The Bolt (Revising) (Ongoing)
by Protarn
Summary: Visit the tales of Central city's other hero, the Bolt. Nine months before the awakening of the Flash, the city was in chaos due to the Incident of the Particle Accelerator. A new hero would rise as dark foes risen as well to spread chaos. . .
1. Chapter 1

Note from Protarn: Hello fellow readers! I appreciate you guys reading this story. Please credit my friend, Nicholas who created the idea of the Bolt. And don't forget to credit what this fanfic was based off!

Enjoy!

Throughout my childhood, I get bullied a lot. I always wanted to fight back but I get lazy to work out at the gym, in spite of the fact I got some training in the past. It was my foster dad who told not to fight back. Whenever I tried to fight back or tell the teachers, it doesn't go well. I'll get robbed over and over again, force me to do their homework, make fun of my nerdy hobbies, but jokes on them if I became their boss, I'll give them less day offs. The adults won't believe anything I'll say because I need some evidence but do I look like a detective to you, and usually I'm scared or they'll hurt again, and again, and again, and then again. I was like a peasant to them just licking their shoes. I'm not even their only victim, there were others being hurt and nobody was happy. If only I have the power to make things right.

I was then given a chance because of an accident. It was this accident that's going to change everyone's lives. . .

David Rider's Power-plant, turbine hall; I was just working at the turbines with Mr. Leg before Mr. Leg's shift was over.

'Look at the bright side Nickel. You'll get paid extra. You could buy more things. Probably you'll get enough to buy a new car.'

'It's not as good as you think. Getting paid is the only pro here. Everything else is pretty much a con'

'Hahahaha.'

'There's nothing funny about that. I haven't drank any cappuccino and I'm already feeling tired.'

'Didn't I told you to sleep early.'

'I did. You are the best adviser I ever have. Last night some couple were still complaining about the fire, and I listened to everything they said. For some reason, the guy was upset that his stuffed lion got burned out and he blamed her for letting it get burned.'

'You listened the whole night?'

'I would't be tired.'

'Creep.'

'It's not my fault there were talking so loud! I bet I'm not the only one who listened to it.'

'Name one.'

'Ugh. . . John. Yeah John. He was pretty tired this morning. '

'And you saw John this morning'

'Yes. Yes I did.'

'In spite of the fact he has a day off and he was just watching an anime marathon.'

'Fine. I could be the only one listening. I was thinking if there was a way I help them.'

'How could you help them?'

'I'll buy him a new doll or an expensive looking doll. He'll like it. '

'How much do you know about them?'

'I know they've been together for few years and they moved in five months ago. That's something I know. They haven't got married but they've been talking over for so long, and they haven't decided yet.'

'That's it. You don't know much about their parents or their hobbies. Did you know the doll John got was his last toy when he was a child before his parents were killed in the train accident. To him, that doll he just lost, is the most expensive doll he ever had. But it was burned.'

'Are you trying to make me guilty here. It was burned and now there's nothing I could do anything about it. It's not exactly my fault that I got the whole place burned. The boss was rushing me to do a lot of stuff, in fact everyone was rushing me, pressuring me, but I can't even run that fast. And now with the fire, I got to do more stuff and I'm gonna miss the activation of the Particle Accelerator. I've been waiting to see ever since the project started at S.T.A.R Lab.'

'Something good might come up. It may seem bad now, but I got a feeling it was just a test how you can handle difficult trials. In the end, your struggle is going to pay off.'

'Very wise. Things are going to get better after a meteor shower or a big tsunami.'

*Checking his watch* 'It's eight. I'm going to take my kids to the Particle Accelerator.'

'You too?! Lucky. I wish I was one of your kids.'

'You were like a son to me anyway. But I'll take a video at the whole thing. So you'll be seeing what's going on.'

'Well. At least I'm the not the only one staying around here. I won't feel lonely seeing there are other workers suffering around here.'

'That's the spirit. Stay positive.'

*Mr Leg exits*

In about an hour later, I'm starting to feel a bit upset not seeing the Particle Accelerator. I mean it's like everyone you knew went to watch a movie without you, then by the time you went to buy tickets, they were already sold out so I had to wait for months before a DVD comes out. But this is the Particle Accelerator and you can see the activation yourself only once. I'll try to be positive here: I am technically preventing a disaster so I'm kinda of a hero that nobody knows.

I finished with the turbine and I was asked to go to the electrical room. Apparently my superior must've been low on technicians and nobody wants to keep an eye to the electrical room because they're planning to cause some damage to the electrical room which can doom everyone. Joking, just switching places with another technician, he happen to have his shift to be over. Lucky guy.

After some more inspection and repairs in the circuits and the control systems. . . Things gone wrong. . . It all happened at the same time as computers explode, lights exploded with sparks coming out, the emergency lights were suppose to be on but somehow it was damaged, I felt something shaking around me as if there was an earthquake or something hit the power-plant. Like a disaster happening at the same time: volcanoes erupting, tsunamis, hurricanes, and probably an alien invasion like one of the movies I've seen. But everything right now is actually happening. It's real. It's terrifying. It was like the time when I was a kid. . . I can't remember much. . . all I see was fire. . . Like I was in hell and I heard some laughter, a crazy laughter. . . It's like the devil was watching me. All alone in this control and just here to die while every else are enjoying what they're doing.

I was knocked down by a strong force from an explosion of a machine. My clothes were on fire, and I tried to rub them off, but the fire kept on burning my hands. I was starting to feel pain. . . It hurts so much. . . My body. . . It's being roasted on the inside. . . It. . . Hurts. . . I'm dying. . . Help. . . Me. . . I want to scream. . . But my lungs was on fire. . . And smoke kept on getting on my lungs. . . I was choking. . . Can't. . . Breathe. . .

I passed out for a moment. The pain was suddenly gone. I could somehow move again. I don't feel injured. I feel fine. It was like I was never hurt. I feel some energy in me just rising like the time when I drank an energy drink, but this is different. But it doesn't matter, this place is going to fall apart. I had to get out before this place gets destroyed. I have to take my chance to get out.

I began to make way to the exit. Some electricities around me had been acting weird, whenever I get close, they seem to follow me like magnets. It was weird. I didn't want to get close to it, because it was like a creep thinking to do bad things to me. I got close. . . It didn't hurt me like it was suppose to. . . Instead it made me feel like I was running faster. . . Then faster. . . Faster. . . Now I can run fast enough to get out of here. Closer I get to electricities, the more speed to get out of here! I'm not dying tonight!

I was glad I knew most of the floors and the hallways, but most of them were already damaged from explosions. I was lucky, I felt some presence of electricities around this place, so I just absorbed them to get faster. There were more damages around and piles of things scattered around. I slipped stepping into a toolbox which causes my head to slam itself onto a wall. I could feel my skull cracking and my head going numb from the damage, but the electricities continue to heal no matter the damage, but it still hurt a lot.

I heard there was some people coughing in a room, and some of them trap inside a room. I was thinking of saving them, become a hero. The only problem was I can't find an exit. I can't save them if I can't save myself. But those people are dying, I can't leave them to die here. Unlike me, I can heal myself. So I ran ahead until I found the exit. A lot of wreckage ahead, but I found an exit. It wasn't a door, it's a huge hole in the wall as if something blew it up. I got out and I felt the breeze coming, but then suddenly it became plain.

The sky, the sky doesn't look dark anymore. I used to be afraid of night time, but the sky I'm looking now, it's like a mixture of red and orange. There was damage everywhere. It looked like something exploded, something that looked like it came from Star Labs. How can this happen. It looked horrible out there. I want to get out of this mess, I don't want to see any of this. Am I dead?

I have to get out of here. I just ran away as fast as I could until suddenly I'm in a forest. It was so quiet in here. Nothing here felt like a mess. Gotta think in here. What's going on in here? Then I just realized how sudden I got in here. Did I run here? I'm not even so sure. I don't even know what's happening. Just gonna think here. Just think. A big mess I'm in. How. . . Did this happen? How could it? After years of waiting just to failed to see the activation of the Particle Accelerator, everything just suddenly blew up.

I ran back to the city to see what's happening. And the city, it's a big mess around me. So many screaming, panic, crying, destruction. I went to Star Labs, and I felt relief it was perfectly fine, but not the people around. Some of them are just lying on the ground asleep. But one of them was awake, and he was on fire, he looked terrified and confuse. I had to find a fire extinguisher to get rid of the fire. For weird reasons, the fire doesn't seem to be killing him, his skin doesn't look burned off, yet the dude is on fire. How is he doing that? I had to help him anyway, but there's way too many things going on.

What's going on around here. I heard some weird screaming, and some weird thing flew in the sky uncontrollably. Should I help or leave everyone before things gets worse?

Someone seemed to be crying out there. . . Someone I know. I ran until I can't run fast anymore. How do I became fast again? How? How? I was hit by something. . . Something electrical? That would mean I would have to get electrocuted. It didn't hurt me but I probably did something. As in manifest it.

So I ran and ran. It was chaos everywhere: everything was dark and it was the fire keeping the darkness away but it's burning the streets down. Electric wires were going crazy so I ran as fast as I can, but I immediately became tired. I need those electric wires. I need power. Do these wires can really help me? Will it help me save this city? Why am I discussing this with myself when it's not helping me? Nothing is going to happen if I keep on asking myself. So I touched the wires. It actually doesn't hurt, it helped me. It was like some kind of a medicine or waking up from many hours of nap. I feel great. The energy flowing through my body like a river going smoothly in my body.

Then I ran, faster than I've ever been before. Everything was passing too fast. It reminded me of the time I skip forward in a movie, but I knew what's happening bit by bit even though it's going fast, and normally I would lose track, and going back is something I'm gonna need. But, I know where I'm going. I kept on running fast. My legs had never felt so alive, I felt very alive. Powerful. Unluckily for me, the more distance I made from where I began to other places, I realized that chaos was everywhere. It's like I'm running in hell, or some disaster like bombs exploding out of nowhere and foreign invaders started attacking with tanks and flamethrowers.

It was Mr. Leg and his family, he was burned from an explosion while cradling his sleeping daughter, Lily Leg. His son on the other hand was awake, looking. . . deformed. . . his head like a bird. . . With feathers covering his body. . . For a bird. . . He doesn't have wings. . . At least he hasn't lost his arms. Though I wasn't so sure if that was Leg Junior. . . He sounds like Leg Junior. . . But do I got time to think? No. I have to help them. . . I have to send them over to the hospital, myself. . .

I tried to carry Mr. Leg, his daughter, and his son, but Leg Junior was acting crazy. He was screaming for help and his face was flooded with tears. I want to really me. So I ran to him. . . Until I realized I made a mistake. . .

Leg Junior was terrified of me. I tried to reach him but all he does was to run away from me. I look at myself, I was covered with electricity. My hand suddenly burst electricity at Leg Junior. Most of his feathers were burned off and his body turn dark like an ash. What did I do. . ? Did I killed Mr. Leg's son?

Behind me, someone began to breathe deeply, breathing in the air then breathing it out. But that person was breathing like a leaf-blower. It was Mr. Leg looking healthy and fine as if some explosion never even touched him. His daughter was still asleep in his arms. He was a strong man in spite of his old age, and he always look like he was from a war, but he had always been a good guy to everyone. Now I see a fierce guy just expecting a fight might happen soon. He looked at me, terrified, confuse, and angry. But Mr. Leg put his attention to something else, looking for something. It was his son he was looking for.

'Junior! Junior! Junior! Junior! Junior! Junior!'

'Leg. Junior's right there.'

'That's my son?'

Mr. Leg made way to Leg Junior.

'Is this really my son? Is this a joke to you'?

'. . . . . . That's your son. . . . He turned into a bird. . . .'

He began to cry, and he fought his tears, his sadness.

'If this is my son, why was he burned?'

'. . . . . . . . . ..'

'You have to tell me.'

'. . . . . . . . . . . .'

'Tell how he got burned! Did you electrocute him?'

For a moment, I look at Leg Junior just hoping he survived but would it be good that he survived? Living the rest of his life looking like a burned turkey. It looked like for a second he moved. My head is playing games with me, it's like I want to believe he survived. How could he survived getting hit by lightning? Yet I survived. He could survive getting struck.

'Is this really my son? This bird. Did he turned into some bird? That can't happen. Am I dead? Is the devil mocking me?'

I carefully look at Leg Junior; I thought I saw his fingers twitch a little. Did he survived? But if he did, he could be slowly dying, he should be at a hospital. What hospital could help him?

'Take a careful look at him.'

Leg junior get to finally say some words out, but he struggled, as if the pain was choking him, '. . . . . . . . . . Dad. . . . . . . Is that you? . . . . . . .'

'Are you okay son?'

' . . . . . That man. . . . . Hurts. . . . . .'

He pointed at me as if I murdered someone. Then Mr. Leg put his son in his arms. I heard heavy breathing from him, looking like he's trying to contain his anger. It was a very quiet moment; seconds felt like minutes passing by. He looked at him, opened his mouth as if releasing something. A hole appeared on my chest out of nowhere like it was shot by something, something that could've come out from Mr. Leg's mouth, shot me with the sharpest air.

I fell on the ground feeling the pain scratching on my body with sharpness. The pain did go away, and so as Mr. Leg and his kids.

What can I do right now? My powers could hurt many people. I could get them killed, and I'll have myself to blame.

Sudden thoughts came to me. It was the thoughts of my foster dad who raised me in Gotham city. The things he did for me. The lessons he thought me. . . The people he helped. . . But my power could kill people. I can't control it. Maybe there is a way. What if there is a way I could keep it stable.

I bolted my way through different stores, finding something I could use. I have a better chance finding it in the supermarket. And at last I found it. Rubber wires. I'm gonna need all of it, every rubber wires I could find.

I noticed I slowed down. I'm running low on my powers. Maybe this is my chance to help people without hurting them. Will it be as effective as running fast? I don't think I could save anyone fast enough. All the same, I had to save some people. I just feel I had to. A feeling something telling deep inside my mind, forcing me to help people, keep them from dying.

I went to look around for an injured civilian. There's an injured woman on the floor unconscious. One problem I realized: how could I wrap around here with rubber wires if she's on the ground? An idea just came at my head. What if I wrap myself in rubber? So I wrapped myself in rubber wires. The problem was I can't move like some free bird with open wings. I decided to wrap most of my upper body and some on my leg so I could ran without a problem slowing me down. I forgot something important. Magnet. Does it matter now I get a magnet? She's dying and I had to do something! I don't have time to think! I had to act now. I wasted enough time.

She's still fine even getting close, but I had to wrap her in rubber wires to keep it safe. It may look weird or wrong, at least there's a chance to save someone.

I kept on running around the streets, running like a literal lightning bolt, the living lightning. I do feel that I'm not running fast like earlier, probably because of the rubber wires. The rubber wires could be preventing me from absorbing electricity around me. I ran on until I could find a hospital. Then I heard more screams and destructions. I saw some deform people around, people with some powers along the way. More injured people to be seen. I was thinking about saving them. I do have plenty of rubber wires, but the rubber wire is slowing me down like some kind of wall that prevents energy from passing into me. The woman is heavier than I thought. There's too much people around here? No. I can't. Too much going. A tall building in front of me exploded. Pieces of it falling onto people and vast dust began filling the air; smoke filling the lungs of the people around. I decided to ran away. Saving one person is enough for me.

I reached in front of the hospital and drop her off in an emergency room. It's crowded in there. Some of the people seems to notice at the rubber wires me and her wrapped around in. I took of the wires and ran back outside. Maybe I could save some more people along the way.

That's what I did: I ran around, rescuing as many civilians as I can until this was all over. My head was feeling tired from all the helping. It just felt a lot to hold in an idea of saving everyone in this city, a city populated by thousands of people. There were times I failed: a stranger died on my arms because a gap between the wire rubbers had the electricity burned him. I saw some strange people that makes me wonder if I should help: there's some kind that turned into poisonous gas, some got into my lungs, but the electricity seemed to heal me quick for some reason.

Then I saw someone running as fast as me. . . A man in a yellow suit. . . Red eyes that glows like fire. . .

He ran forward with his fist ready to punch me. He began to jab me with his fists several times. It's like getting hit by boulders. The jabs his all over my body until I fall onto the ground. My body was healed in an instant, yet I do feel my power getting weaker per each jab.

He said to me, 'You shouldn't be fast.'

That's what he said to me. His voice has a lot of vibration. In fact his body keeps on vibrating for some reason.

I do felt something. . . Electricity coming from around him. I gathered all my strength and speed to hold on to his leg. A tip of my finer is free from the rubber wires. He was surprise when I touched him. But before he could do anything else, my finger had already touched him. There was so much energy coming into me, so much power. I have now the advantage. I got up with new power surging through my body, the tides had turned into my favor. I pointed at him with my finger, 'Let's see who's faster on kicking ass.'

A bolt of lightning was fired from the tip of my finger like some lightning gun. He tried to do something but he already took the damage. How did I do that? But I already did use that ability, on someone's son. . .

He began to talk, 'Wait. Sorry what I just did. I mistook you for someone.'

'That doesn't excuse the fact you nearly killed me.'

'Give me time to explain. Your wounds had already been healed, but your confusion's not. Just a chance. The city is already falling apart unless we do something about it.'

'What do you want me to do.'

'The obvious.'

'After what you just did to me. I don't even know you. You can't expect some guy to me be helpful after you beat him up. Life doesn't work that way. So give me a reason why I should.'

'You're not going to listen? I have no choice but to do this.'

The yellow guy was really fast even after getting struck by lightning. His yellow suit could've protected him. But what chance does he have against me? Right now we're up to scale, until I realized the lightning until took a quarter of my power which means he's faster than me, even though he doesn't look as fast as earlier. As long I could touch him, I could win.

The fight went horribly for me. He seems to predict what I'm going to do. He even somehow stole the rubber wires I wrapped around my body. I tried to kick him, punch his face, ran around as if we're in a big race. Everything looked like a rush, or time seems to be accelerating. But the yellow man is faster and looked more experience than me in fighting. He kept on finding ways to avoid my hands.

I slowed down after a while during the fight. I was tired. My powers is vanishing. Gotta find some electricity. However, the yellow man tied my hands and legs. Now I can't move. I'm dead.

A wall exploded close to us. The yellow man was distracted for a split second and saw a big guy looking like a cow-man, some kind of a minotaur. I was finding a way to get out, but the yellow man had my body around his shoulder and ran across the streets; I noticed he had rubber wires around some parts in my body to prevent me from absorbing him. He was touching my head, vibrating it to keep me nauseated. Losing strength and the will to fight back. I do feel I had some little left in me. A little shock could trip him to the ground. I had to focus releasing it. Just a little could do, even not knowing how, a little could do. I thought hard and strong until my head starts aching.

Then it worked. He fell into the ground just as plan. I'm free from his grasp. Free but the landing to the ground is not pain-free. Some of my bones felt like to broke. There were scratches on my skin when I rolled onto the ground. The yellow man looked hurt, but he's not done yet. I don't have any left in me: my hands are tied up, my leg is tied up, I can't use my powers to protect myself. I saw a knife on the ground. I could use it. But how?

A shot was fired. The yellow man was shot in the arm, then his chest and stomach. For some reason, he survived, and he vanished in a form of a yellow lightning. It was a police officer who fired. Some old officer with brown skin like me. He had the rubber wires cut down with a knife he found on the ground. The man was confuse how I got tied up in rubber wires, but I'm free now. He was going to drive me to the nearest hospital.

Some rest at last. . .


	2. Chapter 2

Notes from Protarn: Thank you for reading this story. But don't forget to give the credit to a friend of mine, Nicholas who created the idea of the Bolt.

In the previous chapter: Nicholas, a young nuclear engineer was working overtime in David Rider's Powerplant until an incident occurred during the activation of the Particle Accelerator that resulted the city to be under chaos. Being affected by the incident, Nicholas finds himself with electrical powers that granted him the ability to run fast and absorb electricity which heal his wounds, and releasing the electricity like a lightning strike. He made use to his powers by helping as many civilian as he cannot, however he soon encountered a mysterious man in a yellow suit who attempted to kidnap him. With lucky in his favor, Nicholas was able to escape the grasp of his pursuer, but his injury led him to be in a hospital. What will Nicholas do now upon waking in the the now crowded hospital under a blackout due to the incident?

It looked so blurry right now. For a moment everything look so shady and dim, but things started to look clear the longer I open my eyes. I was looking at the ceiling the whole time, a dark ceiling as if the lights had been shut down. How long had I been out?

Seems like I'm in a hospital. How did I get here? The last I remember was seeing a guy on a yellow suit. That got to be dream. Too crazy to be real, but I do get a feeling I enjoyed it. I kinda felt alive out there like the time when I tried to run at a marathon. It was the feeling of rush and the beating on my heat that makes me feel thrilled. That's what I remembered, but it's crazy. Weird stuff like that can't exist. But it felt real; the pain, the rush, my nervousness, being afraid, feeling courageous, and somewhat powerful.

Right now I gotta figure out what I'm doing here. Did something bad happen to me? Could be the explanation of my crazy dream. Someone could've injected me with some drug that cause people to eat rocks.

The room was looking weird. It shouldn't be dark. And why are there so many beds in this room? Why are there so many doctors and nurses in just one room just acting as if a big disaster just happened recently. Then I noticed one of the patients had scales all over his body like a lizard. Am I on the right hospital or is the drug not gone yet?

I feel fine right. The fact I'm gonna say: I don't look hurt. . .

There was some screaming outside the door, lots of screaming. Then I heard a growl, a tiger's growl. People are running away from tiger. Why is there a tiger in the hospital?

I got off from my bed without the pain bothering me. I inspected on myself: no scratch, no burned arms, still got my fingers, my hair hasn't fallen off, head hasn't fallen off. I'm fine, so what's the point of having me here? What kind of idiot would bring a healthy guy to a hospital. It's like bringing a poor guy to an expensive restaurant. That probably explains why so many good people die.

Well right now all it matters was there's tiger on the loose and I got to think of something what to do. Should I fight the tiger or run away? I could be dreaming right now. It's just a dream. Dreams lie a lot. But this could be a nightmare coming true. If it is. . . Do I actually have powers? It's not working right now, so I'm defenseless, or should I say offenseless. The only thing keeping the tiger from coming in was the door; door breaks, we're all screwed. It must've chose this place because the amount of bodies in here like some buffet. In the hospital: everyone is sick. It does make me wonder if the tiger ever thought that eating those people could cause it go sick. Sickness could be my only weapon in here.

More screams came out as if some demon came out from hell.

Before I made any thoughts, the door was opened by me. What was I thinking? Am I trying to get myself killed or attempting a failed escape? I look on the window earlier and saw I'm on the fifth floor. Jumping off could get me killed. I saw some nurses run by and patients crawling on the floor away from the growls.

I followed the sound without my thoughts to guide me. My body was moving on its own as if my mind just shut down because of how intimidating the growl was. I could feel my heart beating so fast as if warning me not to get close, or was it encouraging me to get close? I got closer anyway to investigate.

It was a tiger alright. A tiger probably evolved to look like us. I thought it was going to attack, but instead it scratched the walls and growls in anger as loud as the loudest rock music I heard. I felt like fainting, instead I stood on. It caught me staring at it, there was anger in its eyes but it feels like it's anger was not at me. The tiger man's hands hid his face and ran away as if feeling guilty about something. I was confused why it ran. I could only think of luring me into a trap, since that's how predators are, and a tiger with a body shaped like us, the damage might be worse. Now that it ran away, it's my chance to escape. I have no chance against the tiger, and it won't do any help if I died. More people are going to die all the same.

More screams came out from a different hall. My body felt like being pulled to the scenery like a magnet. I followed the sound and realized there's no sign of blood anymore. What's going on?

I watched a lot of action movies when I was a kid, lots of movies with guns firing, explosions, hot looking cars, and badass heroes beating the bad guys. Now that I think back, it's reckless what those people did; fighting an army with years of experience, robots shooting lasers everywhere, low chance of survival. Those people were lucky to survive, even though it's just a movie. But seeing the heroes fight, it took a lot of willpower to walk on to something life-threatening.

There is an abandoned fluid stand on the floor. This could give me a fighting chance, a little fighting chance after realizing how heavy this thing is. Why do they have to make fluid stand made out of metal instead of wood? I gathered all my strength to carry it, but it weighs like a barbell! This is a hospital not a gym. I couldn't last holding it for more than a minute, it's like the stand wants me dead and probably watch me get eaten by the tiger. Screw this, I'll drag it so I won't get knocked out before I see the tiger again.

Must be tough being in the hospital. There's no power around to bring light where we're going and. . . Power to keep patients alive. . . I saw some candles along the way, but no sign of a backup power being used. All the doors were close with some people I saw peeking out if it's safe; most look away as soon they see me, but a few insisted for me to come in or ask if it's safe outside. It's really tempting, I feel like the next victim in a horror movie, and knowing I'm black, I might die, but I chose to walk on because my body said so. If I survive this that would mean that movies have no real power over stereotypes. I had to walk on my own even though it makes sense to get some help from other people.

The tiger was at the corner near the window. It looks like it's trying to hide itself from everyone. Out of nowhere from my mouth, I started to talk to the tiger, 'You okay there?'

What have I done? . . . Should've hit it when I still got the chance. Now it's looking at me with eyes as vicious as my neighbor's house cat.

'Leave me!'

'Okay I'll leave you alone.'

I was asked and I took the opportunity to leave, just enough reason to runaway. My body chose the opposite like some instinct I don't have control over, some kind of a hidden conscience and leaving the scene would make me hate myself. I have two choices in my hands: live my entire life with guilt or die in a gruesome death. I had been giving chances earlier, so far I took on the path to face the tiger man, and probably I already gone far. By now, there is no turning back. The tiger man looks fierce, the place looks dark, I'm alone and defenses, and the only thing missing is the music of horror, unless screaming and monstrous growling counts.

'Let me help you. Let me find a way to help you.'

'Don't. Please don't. My mind is changing. I'm seeing something different. I was hunting a zebra. I was eating the zebra without holding it with my hands. How do I have four legs? Is it me or do I feel taller, no. . . No. . . Things look shorter now. . . Am I short or tall? My arms. . . My legs. . .'

'Stay calm. Just don't think right now and clear your mind.'

'But whenever I tried to stop thinking, I want to hunt something. Something I could chase and tear it apart. The only thing I could chase was something alive. Eating your prey is fun, but chasing the prey gives me a lot of thrill.'

I knew I made a mistake. Mistake is what led me here. This should be the perfect time to stand up! I lift the fluid stand and position myself like a spearman.

'Stay away from me! Don't get close. I know how to used this, you are going to regret coming closer.'

'Then run! Run kid run! But be warned; you are only granting me pleasure.'

It doesn't look like some dumb animal. If it can talk, then maybe I could convince it not to kill me. Gotta stay calm and look strong, if it knows you're afraid, it knows it has an advantage over me. Hold the spear like a professional so it'll take note of how dangerous I am; if it realize it has no chance against me, it might walk away and probably stop acting crazy.

Luck is against me. The stand has little effect on the lunging tiger man. It's a bad idea to forget that the tiger man is part human, because poking at it with a metal stick without a spear point made me realize how dumb I am. In addition to my doom: it has hands to knock out my only weapon; at least I come to realize why tigers don't get hands like we do, God doesn't want them to rule the world. Listening to the tiger man's advise might be the best idea for me to live.

Before I leave, I pick up a lit candle on top of a place, then threw it at the tiger. It has furs all over the body, fire could burn it down. If I were in a casino, I'll be poor because the tiger man slap the candle away like a fly.

I wish I had my powers back, it's really tiring running before a minute passed. My efforts to run with my body still intact seems useless right now, unless I found a weapon or a way to get my powers back. The tiger man doesn't seem to be chasing me right now, could be giving me a head start or it's still struggling with itself. My plan is to let my body to the running and my mind to do the thinking: what I remembered, my powers has something to do with electricity, absorbing it until there's nothing left to absorb, it can then be used until it has ran out, basically I need to find a way to recharge myself. I was able to find a metal scissor on the floor, at least it's lighter and sharp enough to cut it's skin, or so I thought as if this upcoming near death experience had made me insane. But picking up the scissor wasted few seconds, enough time for the tiger man to find me on the floor, it really does make me wonder if it has a cheetah blood. Are tigers some way related to cheetahs?

Upon seeing the tiger man, I fell on my back. I look around if there's anything else I could use, like a gun or a tranquilizer. There's an outlet on my right, electricity grants me power and getting the electricity from the outlet could help me get my power back. The only problem: the outlet looked like it just blew up, but I do sense something, something electrical, and my guts tells me it's my last chance. Should've thought of the before. If I survive this, I'll give myself a slap to the face for not thinking of an idea that could save me. But will there be power in the outlet judging the fact how there is no power being used? To know the truth, is to find the truth, or the truth will never be known; an advise I was told years ago.

'Should've run faster. You're making the game boring.'

I flip my body to the outlet as fast as I can, while the tiger man lunge at me. It was thanks to the candle I was able to see the outlet, just enough light to see the gaps in the outlet. The tiger may have been fierce and strong, even faster than me, but it wasn't fast enough to prevent me from striking the outlet with my scissor. Electricity exploded like a quick burst. I wasn't really so sure if I caused the explosion, since it felt like I unleash something out from my body. Never mind that. . . Is it over yet?

The tiger man was on the ground, unconscious, and its fur spiked up because of the static electricity. Perfect time to throw down a party for my survival. I noticed electricity flowing around my body, even my veins felt the flow. Got my strength back and I feel like running to Mount Everest without rest. I can finally leave this building. Is it still a mess outside? One way to find one-

The tiger man is not dead. It got back on its feet, it didn't have any trouble standing up, it looked fine. I just made it more upset.

It said to me, 'This should be fun.'

'Don't you mean funny. Look at the mirror.'

Some confidence should help me out. Use courage to bury down the fear that keeps me restraint. But the tiger man only smiled, ready to fight for round two. And the fight would look dramatic if I'm wearing some kind of a suit rather than a patient clothes that made me feel half naked.

The tiger man have the advantage in size and strength, its claws could probably cut me apart like a sword, and its ability to roar made me a bit anxious as if I'm hearing a thunderstorm, the sound carries over to my ears and it has a strong feeling of a menacing presence. It stunned me for a few seconds, enough time like earlier to strike me. But it's different now; I have the power to run, or so I thought, that I'm being delusional, where I died in real life and I've just spending the last moment in my life to imagine what could've happened instead. Though the tiger man had made the first move to strike me, I was quick to evade its animalistic attack. That should confirms it, I have my power back and I'm not dead.

'Surprise? This is how the predator feels when it becomes the prey. And this is how a prey feels when the prey becomes the predator.'

Learning back, water is a good conductor to electricity, but the water cannot be pure or else it won't conduct. Sometime I learned in homeschool and something I saw for myself when working in David Rider's Power Plant. The human body is almost made out of impure water which is why we react when we touch something electrical, unless the voltage is under 45. Animals themselves feel the same thing. The tiger man should've been dead after receiving huge amount of voltage. It must have a very strong skin because the skin is a good insulator against electricity, it prevents us from getting killed if the voltage is not high. However the resistance in the skin can be reduced by adding water and breaking the skin apart. Basically, wreck the cat with bath.

'Time out. I'm gonna need a water break, because this fight is already making me thirsty. See ya!'

'Run as much as you like. You are only making me more satisfied of the challenge you have given me.'

The idea with he scissor and the outlet: bad idea, because the scissor is just good at throwing at the lion man. I could just put my finger to an outlet and my powers are either back or better than ever. I am surprised at the amount of electricity left in this building. Found two empty buckets in the janitor's room and have them filled by the sink. I soon find the problem how slow the water sink was flowing. So I went to look for 5 gallon water bottles in the kitchen. I now forgive luck, for now. Two unopened 5 gallon water bottles in the cafeteria. Got them opened up and readied for battle, if I l know where the tiger man is. My only guess it's nearby the spot i left it in. I was right.

The tiger man tried to attack me and at some point scratched me. The electricity was able to heal me, but I do get a feeling I'm slowing down. I noticed how light the gallons of water were. I can only carry one at a time, but the electricity is either granting me strength or healing the damages in my arms after straining them too much. The tiger man seems to be learning fast, its able to land some hits into me even though I'm fast. How is that possible? But I did got the water bottles scratched by accident which makes it easier to fill the tiger man with water. Thank you luck for giving me the advantage. The tiger man seems to be struggling, the line of electricity I made every time I run fast affects the water.

I'm actually winning. The longer the tiger man feels the pain of electricity, the more confidence I get. I could've chosen to run away, but instead I chose to stay and fight. Was I worried about the lion man hurting people or was it the feeling of victory, overcoming something I'm afraid of that made me do this? This made me feel strong and powerful, not vulnerable or pathetic. I'm actually helping people out, not messing with their lives. My heart doesn't beat because it's afraid, I feel my heart is now beating because of how alive and great I am.

'Stop! It hurts so much. . .'

Should I listen to it or not?

It continued to talk, 'Forgive me what I done!'

I don't think forgiveness can save it. I don't know how to absorb the electricity in the water. I do absorb them if I get close, but that would give the tiger man the chance to kill me. If only I have a very strong magnet.

The pain in the tiger man felt believable, as if it's actually miserable. The tiger man's voice sounded like earlier, confused, scared, regretful, and self-loathing. Could I look myself in a mirror after letting someone die and not know?

I did what it told me to do: help. Just can't live with guilt. I spent enough time being guilty for one night. I almost got Mr. Leg's son killed and I had to let other civilians die so that I could save the one's I'm saving, some of them got injured when I'm trying to save them.

The electricity went into me like I'm the living magnet. I found out I;m not at a disadvantage at all. Absorbing more electricity only makes me faster, even getting close to me is a big risk.

'Thank you. I would like to talk but we don't have time for that. I don't. My mind is mixed. I can't really tell which one is mine. Am I a tiger or a man? I do know I can't beat you or I'll die. Why not we help each other out so we can sort things out what's going on?'

'I guess we do have time to talk.'

Should I take the offer or not? I don't even know that guy. 'Here's a deal. I lock you up in an empty room with no windows so you won't hurt anyone. I'll let you know when I need you.'

'Sounds fair enough, for you.'

'Hey, I'm the winner here.'

'What's your name?'

'You can call me Nick.'

'The names Carlos. You may not believe me, but I used to be a man. Or do I used to be a tiger?'

'I think you already confirmed that. You know what, I change my mind; you help me out, and if you try to attack me, I'll give you fourth degree burn.'

That's something we can agree.'

I think I just made a friend. He may have tried to kill me earlier, turn me into his dinner, tear me apart, but I'll give a shot having someone to watch my back, as in protect it, not stare at it and imagine eating me. The world outside is a big mess, and I might need some help. Just like in the casino, taking a high risk could be a huge reward. I haven't look outside the window, but I got a feeling the night is not yet over.

Though I still wonder though: should I call the tiger man a he or an it?


	3. Chapter 3

Notes from Protarn: If you didn't read the last two chapters or got an amnesia, I suggest you read them or you'll be stuck in the middle of the ocean without a map. Credit to Nicholas for creating the character Bolt and basing the setting on the T.V series The Flash.

Reminder what happened in the Bolt: an accident occurred during the activation of the Particles Accelerator that resulted Central City to be left under chaos. Young nuclear engineer, Nicholas was affected by the disaster and finds himself with electrical power. He used his power to save as many people as he can, but a mysterious man in a yellow suit had left a severe injury in Nicholas. Upon waking up and letting a tiger man join after a fierce fight, Nicholas must continue finding a way to save the city before the city falls apart.

It does feel epic to have someone to fight alongside with me, in spite of the fact he tried to kill me earlier about five minutes ago. I wasn't so sure if I can actually trust the tiger man, knowing the fact he's having trouble with his personality. If I have a paper to make a list what I should do to stay alive, it would be staying careful with someone having an identity crisis, especially a tiger man who is willing to eat you alive.

The hallway was still dim and empty of people. I glanced at some doctors and patients sneaking away from us. It would be a good idea to tell them we're friendly, until I realized that it's a terrible idea; I'm still covered by electricity. If I saw a talking tiger and a guy who can control electricity, I would run away and hope not to be seen. A guy would electric powers could just roast someone really quick, while the tiger hunts down its prey, then dinner would be served for the two. The two predators. Well it would be weird about me getting involved at hunting because cannibalism is just plain wrong. Then I realized: if the tiger man is part human, would that mean that eating humans would consider him as a cannibal?

Considering the fact I can run faster, I can go ahead and take some detour, there's someone I had to find first. But someone has to keep an eye on Carlos, he got a tiger brain, tiger teeth, and tiger claws. What circumstances would have gone if I had killed the tiger man? One thing for sure was I don't have to babysit a cannibal tiger man where the salary is not getting eaten.

Carlos didn't mind taking a detour, since he can't think what to do with his life now, and often I see him scratching the floor as if releasing his stress. He does occasionally mention about a zoo and the safari, and I thought I heard something about Italy. If Carlos is a poacher, then what an ironic twist that he wind ups combining with a tiger.

I took some runs around the hospital and looking ahead without bumping into anyone. Made out of electricity that could roast anything up close, I could be useful at an outdoor grilling. At some point I have to touch more outlets to prevent myself from slowing down, but wouldn't that make the blackout worse? Someone could've died because of me. How many people were using those extra power? Those could've been used on something else, would be used on saving people, keeping them alive. I might have destroyed whatever the electricity was connected to.

I actually felt selfish using the power; running so fast and beating a tiger man who became an ally, even earlier, the rush and the moment gave my heart a reason to keep on beating, but someone might've died because I stole it from them, stole the things that kept their heart beating. But everything would have gone terribly if Carlos went loose, he could be killing everyone, unless the police showed up to stop him. Carlos could lose his mind anytime, did I make the right choice to let him live? I couldn't think of a way how Carlos could help. It annoys me about killing someone, even the ones who looked terrified, confused, and sad. Maybe deep inside me, I thought there's a way to help him without killing him, or maybe I was too afraid to kill. It was like what my foster dad told me; "killing is injustice." For now, I think I made the right choice.

I decided not to waste anymore of my powers, so I ran to Carlos. I had only been gone for less than 10 seconds, and he's already in a fight with Mr. Leg.

'Carlos, stop! He's my friend!'

'I would if he stop first.'

Mr. Leg was looking progressively aggressive as if he's finally letting out the anger he's been holding. I haven't seen him that angry for a while; he's usually friendly, calm, positive, responsible, and kind to everyone he meets. Twice I've seen him angry: one someone nearly killing one of his kids and other was me nearly killing one of his kids. I'm actually surprised he's still able to stand on his own against Carlos, like he was never tired, in spite of the fact he carried his kids all the way to the hospital, and he was burned from some kind of an explosion. His kids were by the door, still unconscious. He eventually glanced at me, his eyes as fierce as a tiger eyes, more fierce than Carlos.

'Stay away from my kids!'

My arm was suddenly shot down by some kind of a gust of sharp wind. It was like a long needle stabbing through my arm, passed my skin, passed my muscles, and passed my bone. A hole was made on my arm, a hole small enough for me bleed, like a hole in a dam. The pain felt sharp, sharp enough to cut my screams, sharp enough to cut through some of my veins, and sharp enough to knock me down. But I stood my ground, I'm not going to let myself fall off this time, I don't want to lose this time. I felt glad my powers was able to heal me, I could've died from blood loss. I have to convince Mr. Leg to stop attacking. 'Mr. Leg, please stop this. I know you loved your kids very much. Take a deep breathe and stay calm.'

'My son nearly died because of you!'

It was Carlos's turn to talk, 'Talking would do nothing, Nick.'

I thought Carlos was going to eat Mr. Leg, he moved faster than what I could process what's happening. I was prepared to fight Carlos again just to protect Mr. Leg. Turns out, Carlos is the one who needs saving. The punch from Mr Leg was fast and strong, even I'm surprised how it happened. Carlos may have been part tiger and part human, but the mixture made him stronger and tougher to beat, even withstanding different degree of burns, he may have suffered from static electricity but he looks perfectly fine. But the punch was something else, it knocked Carlos down unconscious, it even made Carlos vomit. How did he get so strong?

I have no choice but to take him down. But how can I stop him without killing him? Or should I say, how can I stop him before he kills me? Thinking deep about it, I found myself in an unfair situation, again.

The speed and the electricity are on my side which is something I have over him. Since running creates a line of electricity, I could create a barrier around him so he won't escape. The plan is a success, but to be sure, I had to make several layers, since the electrical barriers dissipates in a few seconds. But he made a risky move, he tried to run and surprisingly he's faster than I remembered, but I'm still the faster one. He was able to pass the barrier, however he suffered from burns on his body, first degree burn. Then the damage vanished. Is his body tough or does he heal really quick? What I could gather: he's tough and he relies on breathing.

Time for next phase of attack: run at him. If he's that tough, then I got nothing to worry about roasting him; it's basically my beating-up rights without any murder. Sorry Mr. Leg, but you wouldn't listen. Out of nowhere, I trip on the ground, there was a hollow on the floor, I don't remember seeing that, unless. . . He set a trap without having me noticed it. Since when was that trapped set or how did he made the gap? My mind hit me like lightning, the air he released was sharp enough to pass through my arm, fast enough to break through the electricity surrounding me, and looking far ahead where I was standing, I thought I saw a tiny hole on the wall, revealing outside. That's how strong his powers is, but seeing the gap big enough to trap me, there should be limits how he should use his powers. I remembered how annoying it was to be hit by a water hose, especially when it shoots thin, it's like the same feeling of getting pierced by a needle, but when the water gets broad, the sharp pain was gone. In fact, how was I able to think in moments like this where death struggles to pull my soul away?

Mr. Leg took the opportunity to grab me by the neck and have my back against the wall. He began to choke me with his tough hands, I could barely breath, it's like drowning in the deep sea with few seconds left to live. But the time was delayed thanks to my power, it healed me quick before my head could explode. I feel like panicking right now, I want to run away and live, it's torture staying alive like this, and my power is dying right now, if it does, I die. A little thought came to me, the blast of air came out from his mouth, his powers is the air and he needs his mouth to have control over it. But if I used what's left in me, I'll die quicker. . . This is my last chance staying alive. I stuck my fingers on his nose and a hand to conceal his mouth. He tried to breath out the air, the pain was great, but it doesn't hurt as much as earlier, the electricity must be harming him, his body is using the air to heal him, so he must be losing lots of air, even his hand started to look burned. I'm free. . .

At first I was coughing, then the electricity healed my body, however I ran out of charges, I got nothing to protect myself. Mr. Leg on the other hand, his wounds are immediately gone after taking some deep breathes. He was going to attack me, until I heard a tiger's roar. It was Carlos taking Mr. Leg's kids as hostages. He must've taken them when Mr. Leg tried to choke me. He had Leg Junior covering his face and Mr. Leg's daughter, Lily, covering his chest.

Mr. Leg was yelling like a colossus, 'Let them go!'

I had to yell at Carlos, 'Don't do this, Carlos!'

'I'll stop if he stops attacking and start listening.'

Mr. Leg was going to make a move, he was going to take me his hostage. But he stopped as soon he sees Carlos having his claws linger around Leg Junior. Carlos gestured to Mr. Leg not to make a move.

Mr. Leg threatened Carlos, 'You don't let go, I'll kill your friend.'

'I barely knew him anyway. You'll try to kill me anyway after I freed them. There's no point releasing them, and you have the capability to kill me by just breathing. So listen to what Nick says, take a deep breathe and stay calm. '

I shook my head at Carlos, hopefully he noticed that he made a mistake.

'Do not take a deep breathe or I'll slit your children's throat.'

Mr. Leg was starting to sound desperate and frustrated, 'Don't you dare!'

'Shoot me with your projectile, and your kids are going to get it. I can hear your breathing, I can feel how much you're breathing in and breathing out. Keep it low and there'll be no harm to your kids.'

This is my chance to convince Mr. Leg, 'Listen, Mr. Leg. Do it for your kids. It's a big mess out there.'

'When did you start caring about people? When did you start risking your life for people you don't even know? I sometimes see in your eyes how afraid you are, Nick. Is this your way at hiding what you're afraid of?'

I couldn't think what to say. Carlos did the talking for me instead, 'Do you want your kids or not?'

Things suddenly got silent. I wasn't so sure what to do next. I got a feeling Mr. Leg seems to be planning something.

I realized I'm running low on my charges, 'Carlos, stay there while I recharge myself.'

Mr. Leg got to talking again, 'How would I know you won't hurt my kids?'

The talk continue between Carlos and Mr. Leg, 'Why would I?'

'Answer me without a question. Will you let them go without hurting them?'

'Not if you agreed.'

'What do you want me to do?'

'Disarm yourself. Stop attacking.'

'Yes I will. I will forgive you.]

'I don't hear honesty. I smell anger from you. Will you stop attacking for your children's sake.'

'Fine.'

I found an outlet by the corner, got myself charged up for the next fight. Then I heard screaming, Leg Junior was fighting back against Carlos, he tried to free himself from Carlos's grip. In that moment, Mr. Leg took a deep breathe and was ready to fire at Carlos. I was quick to respond. If I interrupt his breathing, he would miss and the damage would be less lethal. I ran fort at Mr. Leg, faster than saying one second, and I was able to bump into him, however, I was too late at preventing his attack. The thin slice of wind passes through Lily's chest and so as Carlos, the attack was a miss, because of the struggle between Carlos and Leg Junior. They all fell to the ground, with Leg Junior freed, he went for his father and hugged him as he cries.

'Look what you made me do! You had me hurt my little girl.'

He ran to his daughter, she could be dead. But knowing the weirdness happening recently, she could survive. She has to survive.

I had to say something to Mr. Leg, 'It was you who did it, Mr. Leg. We could've avoided this if you stop.'

''If I hadn't seen you, my kids would find a doctor by now.'

'Your daughter is dying and she needs a doctor or some surgeon.'

He had his daughter on his arms, there was sadness all over his eyes as if the death of his daughter was the final blow for him to stop. For a few moment, he was quiet, looking grave, and the hatred seems to vanish.

'There is no doctor who can save her. Her vitals were damaged. At least she doesn't have to feel the pain. It must be better for her to stay asleep. I'm sorry, my Lily, my flower. Just like the sun, you close your eyes so the night can take over.'

'I'm sorry this happened. . .'

'You were right, this is my fault. She could've lived, And my son. . . He survived anyway thanks to his deformity. . . It wasn't your fault. . . Just an accident like this night. . . And I let it go over my head. . .'

I check over Carlos to see he's okay, maybe his powers could heal him. There's a wound on his chest, but it wasn't deep enough to cut through his body. I put a hand over his nose, and I'm glad that he's still breathing.

'He's still alive. Once he wakes up, don't attack him. He's having trouble with himself, he got two brains with one being a tiger.'

'When did you meet him?'

'Very recent. I knew him as a tiger who tried to eat me, but he's good now.'

'And you trusted him? If has trouble controlling himself, we should put him out of his misery. Do you think it's better for him to live everyday just controlling his tiger instinct? His instinct had him taking my kids as hostages and threatened to kill them.'

'I don't have time to this kind of talk right now. It just felt wrong killing this person.'

'Then it's your burden. If anything happens, you are responsible. If he ever touches tries to touch my son again, I'll kill him myself.'

'Yep, my burden. So, do you wanna join me?'

'No.'

'I barely said what we're going to do.'

'My priorities are my son and wife.'

'We could, maybe reduce the damage, until the city is safe enough to live in.'

'I will only help you, if we secured my home first, then the deal's off.'

'Sounds. . . Um. . . Fair. . . By the way, do you have any idea what's going on?'

'It was the activation. The activation did all this. Are you going to save the city or not?'

At least he's acting like his old self, a man of reason, but I get a feeling he's still holding his anger. Thinking about saving the city, I didn't really thought how I could save the city. I thought brining everyone to the hospital would be a good idea, but even the hospital is a victim, probably all the hospitals were victims. So what can I do? Random people are getting weird powers and I have no idea how to handle them without anyone dying. Killing sounds easy, because I don't have to worry what to do next with them. They're like Carlos, it's like me babysitting Carlos. Maybe I don't have to babysit hundreds of them. If only there's a way. But maybe, there is another option: bring them to an abandoned warehouse until someone could come up with something how to keep themselves under control.

'Before we leave, I'll just grab myself some clothes.'

'Be quick or I'll leave without you. I'll carry your friend to the door.'

He's a tough guy, carrying his dead daughter and a tiger man, even mentally tough for willing to carry Carlos after what just happened. I was really shocked that Mr. Leg's daughter is dead, it just felt so sudden and quick, and I thought she can heal. I hated myself for failing to save her. Saving Carlos had her killed, saving one life in exchange for death to another. And the guy Carlos is a complete stranger to me, while I've been knowing Lily Leg for months. I didn't know it would lead to this. I remembered at some point in my life to have the power to make a chance that can affect other people in a good way, I thought I was going to make a great change, it was more difficult and unpredictable than I thought. The civilians I tried to save earlier, I failed to save them, but I did save some of them, however thinking now, will the hospital would be able to save them now after what happened this night?

Gone with the patient clothe and into the new with a large size jeans and a white t-shirt covered by a grey sweater. I didn't bother look at the size, it felt like a waste of time and a bit selfish. In the bright side, no one would call be Nude Runner or Naked Thunder. On the shoes, I just happen to find the right guy with the same size as me. Getting what I needed, I charged myself a bit more and ran to the exit of the building.

Nothing bad happen so far, in fact when I saw Mr. Leg walking across the lobby, Carlos woke up. I was quick enough to tell him that Mr. Leg is on our side, although he doesn't look very happy after getting shot down by Mr. Leg's wind and getting punched by a fist as hard as metal, and having a tiger's brain, his pride looked hurt and humiliated. Thinking through his perspective, the world is stepping over his face. Seriously, I'm the one who electrocuted him, made him suffered from static electricity which is still under an effect, knocked down by a single punch, and forced to use kids as hostages so Mr. Leg won't kill him. I really blamed Carlos for having Solaris killed, but if she didn't died, maybe me and Carlos would be dead instead. His method was still questionable, and it makes me wonder who made the decision: Carlos or the tiger? Regardless which one he was, I feel a little taste of regret.

If I have a chance to name our group, I'll name it Trio Hero. I was thinking at making a joke just to lighten things up a little, but seeing the amount of disaster what's happening here, there's no time laughing. So following the agreement I had with Mr. Leg, we travel our way to his home. I did find some rubber gloves and rubber wires along the way, and finally a magnet which only makes my powers go crazy, so I threw it away.

During our journey, we found someone releasing gas by just talking. 'Freaks!'

Someone had to handle him, 'No-wait *Cough* we're here to help.'

Mr. Leg Qa trying to pull us away from the civilian, 'Leave him, we can't save time that way. *Cough* It's toxicating my body, everyone move away.'

'I'm not going to stop. Hey, dude, stop there. We're not going to hurt you.'

The civilian's panic was great, 'What do you want from me?'

'I want you to shut up because you're poisoning the air with your mouth. You're probably killing the civilians around you.'

'That's not true. . . I can't kill people. . . It's just wrong. . .'

'The gas speaks for itself, but please close your mouth.*Cough*'

'But-'

'Not a single word. It's just a good thing I can heal myself. Just follow me and we're going to make sense into this.'

Like a punch out of nowhere, the police came. Where were they this whole time? Apparently their cars are not working so they have to run around. Even the swat team were involved. From the looks at the police, they seem to be struggling to survive, gathering as much people as they can and bringing them to a safe shelter. Me and the others are spotted by the police with their guns ready to fire at us. They seem like they won't hesitate to shoot me, Carlos, and Leg Junior, since Mr. Leg is the only one among us, aside from the guy with a bad breathe, is looking perfectly human.

The civilian was looking shocked and he was going to scream, but with gasses coming out from his mouth, the police would fire at him. I tried to tell them not to shoot, the guy can't control the gasses coming out of his mouth. But seeing more gas flowing out, the police became nervous and fired at the gas man. However killing him only released more gasses from him, so we were forced to run. I was able to grab some officers too get away and Carlos seems to be carrying three officers with one's shirt being held by his fangs. Mr. Leg didn't. He walk forward and started to breath in the poison, it looked it's killing him, he began to look frail and weak, but in the end, he saved us and he was able to regain his strength by taking in fresh air.

I didn't know what I could do with the civilian. I failed to save him. Shot down by the people who were given the job to protect the people, and they did protected the people, by killing a man who could've killed hundreds. He was like the rest of us: confused and afraid. Knowing my powers, I don't think there is a way to stop him, even with the rubber wires to insulate my powers. The guy just won't stop panicking.

The police are insisting us to disarm ourselves and stay down. The irony. I didn't want any trouble with the police and having them in their bad side is a horrible idea. So I complied to their demand. But I did not surrendered without a word. 'We're here to help.'

A police officer stepped in to have a good look at us. Looking as serious as Mr. Leg, but doesn't look as old as Mr. Leg, just a guy in his mid-thirties who had a grey hair as most of the pieces fell off like trees.

Warning him about my powers is the best idea, for him, Don't get close, the electricity will get you.'

'Noted. What are you doing here Mr. Leg?'

'Heading home.'

(Officer#1): Remember the promise you made it? You better not break it.

'I only protected my kids.'

An officer approached the two of them, 'Is this the perfect time to be asking questions right now, Officer Doug?'

'Have them stay by the wall, except for the bird boy. This is a personal talk. So, Mr. Leg, what happened to Lily?

'Dead. . .'

'I see. . . So what's with this group?'

'They're planning to save the city.'

'Extra help. We do need more hands in our side, especially the ones with tiger hands and electrical hands. The station is under a big mess. So many of our officers had been acting weird. Only some were able to understand what they were capable of and just went on duty to get rid of the chaos here. Are you sure this people could help?'

'I'm sure.'

'Are you going to help?'

'Yes I am.'

'We'll make sure your son is in a safe place.'

'Thank you.'

Thanks to Mr. Leg, the police is on our side. With my speed, I was suggested to carry as many civilians as much as possible to a shelter in any of the schools as long they're officers guarding the area, because most of the hospitals exploded since the Particles Acceleration, some were taken over by super-powered gangs. If I get a chance, bring doctors everywhere. Few of the hospitals were still fine, but it's getting more crowded with each passing hour, as more people were convinced that the doctors can save them. I had to bring as much super-powered people to a special shelter, so others won't get endangered, and if possible, fight back to defend myself. It is really getting messy around here, and I got a feeling this is only the beginning where the day tomorrow is going to be completely different. . .


	4. Chapter 4

Notes from Protarn (You don't have to read this part. It's not like I'm paying you to read this or anything): You want to be confused? Then don't read the last three chapters, at least you'll get some sense of mystery and a feeling you're reading a prequel. If you did, great job keeping yourself updated, so here's an imaginary medal made out of air. Don't forget to give credit to Nicholas for allowing me to use his original character, Bolt.

Earlier in the Bolt: Bad things happened, our main hero gets powers, and he uses his powers to save the city. No plot relevance happening so far, aside from meeting a guy wearing a yellow suit for some reason as if a cosplayer in the wrong place.

With one of the police station under chaos; me, Carlos, and Mr. Leg were sent to take care of the criminals, even with the ones who may have the ability to disintegrate others. Officer Doug had to join in with us so we can convince the officers not to shoot us. Many criminals were able to escape, and every civilians and officers were taken hostage. So it's time to liberate. Time for the Trio Hero to make an act. The Trio Hero is not an official name but I'll come up with something better in the future. It's going to take time for us to get there before anything else blew up, so I came up with a plan. I had rubber wires tied around me with a wire loose for someone to grab on something like a leash. At first I suggested it would be the tiger man, but I decided to give it to Mr. Leg knowing how strong he was. Officer Doug hat to hold on to Carlos which is like a chain of hugging, a really awkward way to transport people. A problem then slapped us in the face, after we realized Mr. Leg would get a lot of injuries in his feet, in spite of the fact he can heal quick, but we felt bad having Mr. Leg scream internally constantly, so Carlos suggested to have Mr. Leg taking a car's roof to use as a board, basically ground skiing. Great idea at first, until we realized the mistakes: I slow down very quick because of the weight and Mr. Leg struggled to have his feet on the board or they're wind up somersaulting and I would have to pick them up, but at least I don't have to swim down under the ocean. We had to redesign the board until it looks like something where Mr. Leg could stand still without falling off, me on the other hand, nothing, just grab some more electricity. If only I can just change my powers to just run without needing to recharge. This power is starting to annoy me. Is there such thing of a person with the power to change your powers, judging the fact everyone's been getting weird powers?

Thanks to my speed, we got there under five minutes. Most of the minutes is finding where the police station is at, since I barely hear what Mr. Leg was saying where the direction was at, and Carlos had to growl very loud to get my attention, it was the consequence of teamwork, even though we haven't gotten into the action yet. Messy team. But now it is time to fight some bad guys. I fought one at a time with powers, but a group at the same time is something. I don't even know how much they can use their powers.

When is this going to be over? I have so much going on in mind, and I still haven't gotten over Lily's and the guy's death. Their death was like a strike of lightning, out of nowhere, dangerous, terrifying, and disturbing.

The police station was obviously surrounded by police officers who were trying to take back the last place they expected to be taken hostage by criminals, or should I say, superpowered criminals. At first the officers were terrified seeing a tiger, but thanks to Officer Doug, we had them convinced. I was just glad that Carlos was able to keep himself under control, a little bit way too controlled over himself. I got a bad feeling he's going to cause a rampage.

While some of the officers were looking horrified at us, I came upon a familiar officer. Was he the one rescued me earlier? In fact he does look familiar, a little bit too familiar. Wait. . . Joe West!

'Joe is that you?'

'Oh no. Don't come near me. You should've stayed in the hospital.'

'That was you who brought me there. I'm not really so sure if I should feel grateful or not, because you brought me to a place where there's a tiger man. Good thing he's in out side.'

'That thing is on your side?!

'Whoa. That thing is part human, at least call him a he, or he might get upset.'

Carlos joined in the chat, 'I'm not upset.'

'See, he talks. A sign of intelligence that matches with our brain.;

Joe is looking frustrated. Must be the pressure of being a police officer, 'Just keep its-I mean his claws from my officers. This is already frustrating enough.'

'Yeah, I'm shocked as you.'

'Not funny. We don't got time for any explanation or jokes. We have to take back the station, and the last thing I want to know if Barry is there.'

'Barry's in there?'

'I don't really know. I wish he wasn't. The place is full of weird people. Things they do that seem impossible. Can I ask you one thing: are you on our side?'

'Better question is: why shouldn't I help? Barry's in there and I haven't seen him for a long time.'

Officer Doug then barge in to our conversation, 'Nick! We need you in the front. You have to run around the area and see what's going on inside.

'Seriously?'

'What choice we got. You three are on our side and most of our own are handling lots of problem in the city. I don't even know what's going on to other officers. I had them sent off to a building to see what they could do. I don't want to risk station being damaged.'

'So what should I do exactly aside from getting myself killed?'

'One thing you do better than we do: you run.'

I was feeling nervous. This is different from earlier. There's people who are relying on me, and feeling pressured right now. I was raised to fix stuff not handle criminals. I did at some point in my life, but I gave up on that. It was like minutes ago what I just got through, just fighting for myself and not getting killed. I don't have time to process a lot and take in calmly. The electricity seems like the thing that could be keeping me calm, not have me lose my mind or just crawl my way to a corner, or maybe runaway from my problem. I thought it's going to be okay facing the problem, but it only gets harder and harder each time I tried to break through.

There were officers on front holding out there shields, and they looked either surprised or confused. Some of them tried to convince other officers of how dangerous we are, but they failed. Well, if I look in their perspective, I might get angry on just people letting crazy people join us. As usual, I maintained my space from them so no one can get electrocuted. Then a guy came out of the building with flaming hands which for some reason it's not roasting him.

I heard Joe yelling at everyone, 'Everyone back away! Back away!'

I said to myself, 'If the police were terrified, that guy must be one of those people.'

Carlos went on ahead to do the tiger yell, probably the loudest tiger yell, which kinda sounds like a lion. When he opens his mouth, it was like hundreds of thunder being released. Everyone went silent, even stunned. He sounded like he's been holding his aggression like a decade. Then he went back like he was before, a beast who likes to go hunting. I thought it's going to be handled the least civilized way. But I get a feeling that Carlos had been waiting for this moment. The guy by the door starts firing a cannon of fire which for some reason comes out from his hands, unfortunately for that guy, Carlos dodged his way like a cheetah and lunge at him. Mr. Leg and I had to go after Carlos to keep him under control, including not getting him killed because the fire guy's friends came out of the door and started to shoot at us. Thanks to Mr. Leg's burst of wind from his mouth, we were able to push them back.

'Carlos. Keep it together. We don't want the police getting in their bad side.'

'I have to. I can't hold it anymore. I want to hunt. It felt so great and so wrong. This chance would feel great. I never hate myself so much for doing this and loved it at the same time!' '

'Oh no. It's the tiger talking.'

Mr. Leg was talking right next to me, 'We have to let him.'

'What?!'

'He'll be more aggressive if he keeps it in. He has an instinct of a tiger, who needs to hunt or he'll get bored and start to attack anything around him. Same reason when you play an open-world game: once you get bored, you'll start murdering all of the NPCS.'

'When do video game has to do with anything? And when did you play video games?'

'I'm very open with my kids.'

'Reasonable argument, but this is real life. You know it's dangerous.'

'It's your fault that you let it live. You should've put it out of its misery when your still got the chance. There are things out there that are better off dead. But since you insist we should let this beast live, I'm thinking making him useful.'

With Mr. Leg's strength and my electricity and speed, we were able to restrain Carlos from eating the fire guy. That guy must be looking terrified when Carlo was on top of him, he tried to release fire from his hands but they were held down by Carlos's big tiger hands. The police followed us to capture the fire guy, after they injected him with some kind of a drug that seems to make him fall asleep. We got behind to the police line of formation where a group of them were carrying shields.

'We have to let him do the assault.'

'Are you insane? We can't allow a man tiger get loose and just let him go berserk. There's innocent people in there. There's a kid I raised who lost his parents at a young age, and that kid is stuck in there and I don't want anymore tragedy happening to him.'

'Nick! Take care of your pet. Have him roar as loud as possible, and if he finally get to his senses, tell him he only has to punch people without killing them.'

'He's right next you.'

'I figured he might listen to you.'

Carlos is looking confused and angry, 'I lived my life listening. How can I hunt my prey if I can't hear where it's hiding? I might even get fired by my contact if I made a mistake, and no contact means no money, and no money means no orange Fanta.'

Joe got confused for a moment, 'What?'

I explained to him, 'He got two brains.'

'I'm not even going to question that.'

It's now Mr. Leg to go back to talking, 'Will you not kill anyone, Carlos? I can let you hunt for deers in the woods.

That sounded wrong, I had to say something to him, 'You're going to let him kill deers? This is not like you, Leg. Those deers should be left alone.'

'We're in a middle of a crisis. Do you think we have time to argue?'

Officer Doug seems to be listening the whole time, but now he's ready to say something, 'He's right. You all wasted time talking. You should listen to someone who had been through a warfare.'

This is getting confusing, 'Warfare?!'

'Let him do his thing. I'll keep an eye on him in case he got crazy with power.'

'Wait, what?!'

Joe is now objecting to the decision, 'This is insane. If you let that tiger go in, we'll have no choice but to shoot it.'

'This tiger used to be human. He's just struggling with his personality.'

'You're defending him? How much do you know him?'

'. . . .'

'You people are insane.'

Carlos is starting to get tired of the talk. 'I'm going in. If anyone dies, you can shoot me down.'

'What did I do to make this all wrong?'

I have to say something to make him feel better, 'I'll keep an eye on him as much as I can. Joe, we're going to make sure no one dies, and Carlos is not the bad guy. Remember this: we're more dangerous than tigers.'

'Just do what you got to do. But whatever you do, if Barry's in there, don't you ever let him get hurt.'

Officers Doug sounds like he's getting tired of Joe, 'Quiet Joe. I allowed it. Remember your place.'

More of the fire guy's friends came out and starts to fire us with their guns and even with weird powers like shooting darts out from their fingers. One of them looks like he can turn himself into pure metal, and for some reason, is able to move, which makes me wonder how his organs work behind that metal skin. How is he even alive or moving at all?

Shooting the metal guy seems like a bad idea. The bullets barely even leaving a mark on him. He even resisted Mr. Leg's sharp wind which only pushed him down. Mr. Leg and the metal guy began to fight in close-combat, where Mr. Leg suffered the most injuries, and with his healing ability by just breathing, he's going to keep on feeling the pain. Just punching the metal guy looks painful, but he did leave a small scratch and the the metal guy looks hurt which is a good sign.

I got to run around to steal their guns and have them trip over the rubber wires. I did got in the building to cause some mess as much as I can, just buying the police enough time to get forward to the entrance. Carlos helped around scaring everyone and knocking the baddies out. Because Carlos was terrifying and strong, we were able to weaken the bad guys' state of mind, and them getting distracted allows me to save enough people, even sedating as much bad guys as I can, but I have to keep on track how much electricity I got left. I was lucky enough to find some electric charges in some of the damaged outlets. I never felt so glad to gain the gift to run so fast, but my only complaint was that I had to constantly recharge myself and I had to be careful or else someone might get burned.

It's as difficult as I thought this would be, I knew running inside a place filled with people with powers was a mistake. The bad guys were shooting me with weird powers: one was shooting spikes that was released from his arms which just regrows back real quick, another has some kind of a pimple bomb that comes out of his face which explodes disgusting sticky stuff which looks like slime, and a guy who can throw boomerangs that grew from his hair and often he struggled using it because he's using boomerangs and he gets his bad friends hit, like a friendly hit. Thanks to my speed, they failed and missed to even touch me. I am now feeling I made the right choice having Carlos around, because he got to push the baddies, but still I had to constantly remind him by shocking him with little electricity, that he's not allowed to rip people apart with his tiger mouth and tiger claws. I still don't know what's going on around his mind, or why is he even following us or doing the right thing at all. His backstory as a human being made it sound like he's some kind of a poacher or a guy who steals animal skins. What kind of guy like him would made him just follow someone who electrocuted him?

Back in the scenery between Mr. Leg and the metal guy, the fight looks like a tie. The metal guy was getting tired and seems to be getting hurt over time after so much brutal punches, while Mr. Leg gets the most pain only to be healed quick. Mr. Leg had the metal guy away from his bad boys and into the backs of the police where the guy has no place to escape. It was like a fight between strong boxers, fighting until one man was left standing. I was thinking about helping Mr. Leg, he was breathing too much, it looked like the air was going to be sucked in, and he looks really focused, I never seen him to be that serious, he's usually looking humble and generous to everyone, not vicious looking as if he wanted to punch your face with a meteorite. Who would have thought that Mr. Leg could be that tough, just endure getting punches by fists that hits like a giant hammer. The guy was bleeding a lot, getting scratches, his bones looked broken, and every punch, every pain, I get a feeling he would yell out the damage that's been building up inside him. But he endured, as if there's a strong will, a purpose that he doesn't want to fail, and if he failed, he would become broken.

The place was starting to get cleared up. Every officers were able to get in and arrest every criminals they found on the floor. There were still some of the baddies hiding, but by now they would either be hiding or just pushing themselves back. How can there be so many of them in a single police station? The police should look relieve after the help to take back their branch, still I get feeling they're feeling uncomfortable working with a tiger, a guy covered in electricity, and an old man who should be dead by now after getting so much beating. Though it does feel great helping out the police, it makes me feel important, even though I feel a small nervousness in me, just thinking about what would happen next.

Time to do what I got to do: find out if Barry Allen is actually in the police station. It would be horrible if they're keeping him hostage. Joe is not going to be happy about this, especially that friend or probably some kind of a sister to Barry. I can't really remember her name, it's been a while, but I was too busy with work and I had to do something with my house-mates or I'll get more of their bad side, and they might call the police for something I didn't do. They've been accusing me nowadays after that fire.

I got around the place, it was bigger than I remembered. I mean the elevators had to be used if I don't want to get tired getting up. So I looked around from one room to another, there were more baddies along the way, just running around, gathering their numbers to one specific place. The approaching officers were informed by me before I could do any more searches. More civilians either hiding or lying down on the ground terrified, but no Barry. I get to save them, until luck finally decides to give me some boost. Then there he is, Barry Allen, asleep, as if knocked out by something, in fact he looked like he was pushed by some force. I did really find it kind of funny that after so long not seeing him, the reunion was him looking wasted while the city was under a disaster. The most ironic reunion I had ever seen. Well all I got to do was to pick him up from the ground and bring him to Joe or most likely a hospital that's still functioning. But as soon I was going to touch him, I got hit by something, as if someone threw something at me. It was magnets! My powers was starting to act weird, feeling unstable and drunk. My mind was feeling confuse and weird, I'm losing concentration, and now I'm feeling nervous and pressured, as if the feeling came late to me. I looked up, it was the man in a yellow suit, the same guy I fought earlier.

'Don't touch him! You'll only damage him.'

'You nearly killed me back there.'

He threw more magnets at me. I thought magnets could really be useful, as in I could have an easier time to control it, but all it does was the complete opposite, it makes the electricity in me go out of control.

'You have to trust me here. Your friend is just like you, you may not know it, but he gained powers just like you, but different. If you touch him, he'll die.'

'Shut up! Do I look like I could listen to you right now? Aaaarrggghhh!'

'I only tried to help you earlier. I figured you wouldn't listen so I had to drag you, so you won't end up killing anyone close to you. Would you risk killing your friend? Look at yourself right now! Do you look like you wouldn't hurt anyone by just touching them.'

He showed me a mirror, I looked horrible. There was so much electricity being unleashed from me, I'm like a living lightning.

'I don't blame you. I'm just a complete stranger who looks like he knows too much. But what choice do you have? I'm here to help anyone who needs help. Nod so I can have the magnets remove. We don't have so much time to waste. '

There wasn't any option left for me. I feel like the electricity is tearing my existence apart, like clay being separated with bare hands. So I gave in to his demands. The magnets was pulled out from me, like it was connected from strings. I could think more clearly now and the pain was starting to feel like yesterday. He was going to wrap me again to rubber wires so I don't have to steal some electricity hiding in him which for some reason looks like he can't absorb my electricity, yet he look like he can keep on running without needing to recharge like earlier. Then a blur came out of nowhere, as if something fast just passed by. The yellow man noticed it too. It was one of the baddies and he's armed.

'I may not know what's going on, but I do hate people who likes to control others.'

'There's more than I thought.'

The bad guy began to shoot at the yellow man, but the bullets only missed, clearly meaning that the yellow man is faster than a speeding bullet which says how fast he is. The bad guy was as surprised as I am. He ended up getting beat up, and even if he tried to fight back with his speed, the yellow man looked like he's more experienced in combat. I really don't know who I should help around: the bad guy who's taking innocent people as hostage or a guy wearing a yellow suit who may seem like the bad guy also, but I have no idea what the guy really wants. The yellow man would probably be wanting to help everyone seeing how much mess the city's in. However, he looked like he knows something that he doesn't want anyone want to know. It was the instinct the electricity that's been giving the idea to doubt him. It really reminded me of a time whether I should eat octopus or squid for dinner, because those were the only ones left in the fridge. Well my only thought left was: beat them both so I could make sense of everything. Even with the electricity that's been giving my mind so much energy can't help me piece everything together.

With my powers getting stabled, I could probably join in the fight. My first target was to take down the yellow man. He noticed me going after him, so it became a game of tag. We began to run around the building, from one floor to another, and one room to another. The bad guy looks aware I'm only going after the yellow man, for now. I feel like I'm in an intense game of tag with all that speed makes us run so fast, with the difference with the bad guy shooting with his guns at the yellow man, who only just evaded the bullets. And I came to realize how a bad idea it was to shoot guns while having the ability to run fast, because some of the bullets nearly hit me after passing by them. The guy next to me looks like he's having trouble running so fast, as if he's just learning how to use it few moments ago. The yellow man was aware how incapable the guy is. He even know I'll try to recharge myself, so he placed some kind of a magnet at the outlets as we run, and whenever I tried to get sidetrack to recharge myself, there was a magnet sticking to the outlet like glue. So after so much running, or speeding that could get us a speeding ticket since we're in a police department, the yellow man stopped in a room to confront us both. The yellow man is in a big advantage right now.

He had me strapped in a string with magnets as its beads. But I am lucky right now, with the electricity drained, I don't have to feel the the electricity going crazy, still I get the feeling of an ache. And yet, the yellow man who knows what is happening, and I get a feeling I knew what he's going to do next. The yellow man went on to punch the bad guy fast, as in really fast, he was punching like a machine gun. Then came the final blow, he pushes the guy to me, and things gets shocking. I absorbed the guy's electricity, but with the magnets, the electricity being absorbed goes out of control and start blasting at things around, like they're going berserk because of the magnet, as if allergic to the magnets for some reason. I thought it was going to be the real end for me.

Then it stopped. The yellow man was surprised, as if something went off in his planning. Behind him came Carlos, crawling behind silently like the predator or hunter he is. He was lucky enough to claw the backs of the yellow man, because that guy was fast, but he doesn't look fast enough to know of a fact that he was about to get clawed. Mr. Leg and more of the officers came in, but the yellow man had already ran away before anyone noticed he was even there. I tried to get into my senses, yet the electricity doesn't to be doing anything. I'm feeling kind of tired right now. I tried to get up, and I noticed that my hand was vibrating real quick. It doesn't look like it's slowing down at any moment. And the bad guy who was right next to me, he was up, and now, he's covered with electricity, like me, but when I look at myself, I look perfectly fine. The guy then ran off without doing anything else.

At the corner of my right eye, I see a little girl sitting by a wall. She was terrified what just happened. Her eyes were shaking and she can't even move, as if the event had traumatized her. There is a detail I noticed about her, her eyes were literally glowing. Before I could move any longer, I passed out. . .


	5. Chapter 5

Words from Protarn: If I were you, I'd credit the Flash T.V series because that show is the reason why this fanfic existed. Give credit to my friend Nick for insisting me to write a story about his original character, the Bolt.

Earlier: Nicholas felt unconscious again because the writer was too lazy to write a sequence of our main hero struggling throughout the night to save city before he can finally take some rest. Instead, with him unconscious, the police had to struggle throughout the night, which would've been really great if the writer had our hero involved in that event. . .

How long had I been out? It felt like I was in a coma. Wait. Am I in a coma? It was so dark earlier, I barely see a thing. Am I dead? This really made me question about my life choices, because doing something right probably got me killed. It was a big challenge earlier; in one night, I fought the yellow man, Mr. Leg, Carlos, and a group of criminals. I blamed the electricity, whenever it gets into me, I got some kind of a weird feeling that I got to do something that even I knew it's insane. I mean, I let a tiger man joined my side after attempting to kill me, and Mr. Leg. . . He was willing to kill me. . . And his daughter died and his son turned into a freak. And I'm not even going to forget about the city, it was like it fell into anarchy or we just got invaded by aliens. There was a lot of screaming and fire, many weird things happening, and lots and lots of people dying. I never seen so many people died in one night, and all it took was one big explosion. Hearing about an accident during the activation, it just made me frustrated how much an accident could lead to a big disaster. It does really remind me of a time when I accidentally burned a house down, and so many people were angry at me, all of them blamed me for getting something precious to them burned and the things they worked hard for just turned into ash. This sense of loss does remind me what happened in Gotham, and the nice things happening and the horrible things life gave me. Why do so many horrible things happen to people? How can mistakes just lead to pure hatred? Well, I am one of them, because I am a victim of a mistake who both experienced and caused a disaster.

If I were to die, my last regret would be not seeing my sister, Elizabeth. I wonder what she's doing right now. She's not going to be happy if she finds out that I'm dead.

Turns out, she got no reason to be angry at me. I woke up surprised to see myself not in a hospital. Usually a T.V would be on, there would be a flower by the window, and someone might either be waiting for me to get up or that person was already asleep. Sadly I woke up with the tiger man staring at me like I'm some kind a breakfast.

'Good morning.'

'How long had you been watching me?'

'How long do you think you've been sleeping?'

'Why would you do that?'

'I'm bored. And the police thinks you're my master. But at least it's best they think I'm someone's under control, or they'll find a way to restrain me.'

'Anything I missed?'

'Aside from the city needing a cleanup, nothing much. Wait. Almost forgot. There was a weird woman wearing a weird suit who passed by. It was hard to tell what she was wearing exactly but it looked like a cat suit. I tried to chase her off but she found a way to escape. It was all thanks to the windows and the rules that I had to stay in here or they'll put me in a cage.'

'You're talking a lot.'

'There was nothing else to do.'

'Do you know anything about her?'

'A stranger I never met before and nothing was damaged by her, yet. She left a rose, but I decided to hold it and give it to a doctor if it's poison.'

'But you're a tiger. Why don't you just smell it?'

'I got two brains, Nick. It was thanks to you that made me realize that I'm both a tiger and a man. And it was thanks to you that I struggled throughout the night just figuring it out who I am. But that only led me thinking that one side of my memory is crazier than the other. It was really confusing just seeing myself at the same time, especially looking at a mirror. Have you ever felt you're looking at a stranger and it's you at the same time? I had to shut down my brain for the moment.'

'At least you're not vicious.'

'A hunter is weak if he has a weak mind.'

'Don't you mean, minds?'

'You are so lucky that I need you alive. Else I'll eat you.'

'Please don't eat me. . .'

'Don't try to be afraid. You're more hesitant than I remembered. You were braver and more confident. Even with the city state's measuring to hell, you don't seem to be panicking right now.'

'Because I just woke up seeing a tiger. I think I lost my adrenaline rush.'

'Your fault for turning me into your pet.'

'Oh.'

'You must be still dizzy from that experience last night. I won't rush you. Besides, the rush must be tired after experiencing near deaths for the first time. You can ask me anything until you feel awake.'

'Can you tell me anything else about the woman? I might know her.'

'She left a letter with only one word.'

'So what does it say?'

'It says olive.'

'Olive?'

'Doesn't mean I'm part tiger, that doesn't mean I can't read. I'll be living under a wooden box if I can't read.'

'Olive. That really sounds familiar. I just had it in my head, but it's not getting in. Are you sure it was a woman?'

'I don't really have any clue. I figured it was a woman because of the feminine features.'

That kind of statement got me thinking, 'That's something.'

'It was weird.'

'Why?'

'I'm a tiger, Nick. Have you ever see a tiger being attracted to a human? Yet at the same time, it felt right because I'm human. But I'm feeling guilty because I do get a feeling I left someone in Italy. And her wearing a cat just makes it confusing. It was weird, and it gets weirder the more I tried to remember both side of my memory. I blame the person who had my body mixed.'

'Wow. So any idea where we right now?'

'Same place.'

'That explains why this room doesn't look pure white and clean. Did you questioned anyone if they saw a woman passing by?'

'They'll shoot me if I tried to leave the room. And they're too terrified to talk to a tiger that was gone loose from a zoo.'

'Olive. I felt like I heard it before, but it's a name, and it's not olive. Have I met her before? I feel like I do.'

'Don't think about it. You'll fall asleep from getting tired and I would have to stay in this room longer. Constantly I had to roar every one hour to release my stress so I won't act vicious. I'm really surprise that I didn't wake you.'

'Wait a second, if you were here all this time, shouldn't you been able to catch her?'

'She was that good.'

'How?'

'I should be dead by now, Nick. My body was combined by two bodies and I should've looked deformed. In fact my DNA as a tiger and as a human don't match, which could cause the body to destroy itself. The white blood cells would destroy each other. It's common sense. That's why people get certain blood during a surgery. It just works.'

'Yeah you're right. Things in life that are not meant to be questioned because getting spoilers could make you lose your mind. Like knowing the ending of Harry Potter before watching the movies.'

'How can you know the ending of Harry Potter before watching the movies?'

'It's what happens when you're friends with someone who reads books. But I am hoping to have a revenge someday if there would ever be a movie based on a comic. I doubt book readers read comics.'

'Typical nerd war.'

'So. This must be the part I get off from the bed.'

'I'm not allowed to let you leave right now.'

'Let me guess: they'll shoot me.'

'No. They'll shoot me because I'm part tiger. Shooting a tiger is better than you being shot by a cop.'

'I am so going to pretend I didn't hear that.'

'ROOOAAARRRR!'

'What did I do?!'

'Something I got to do every hour. And also the perfect time to tell everyone you're awake.'

I heard footsteps from the other side of the wall, someone is approaching the door, more like a group of people walking. It was Officer Doug and a group of officers. Looking at him closely, he doesn't look as old as Mr. Leg, in fact he looks a decade younger than Mr. Leg. This guy looks like he's in his early forties. He looks a bit tan but mostly pale skinned. His face doesn't look friendly and he doesn't need a beard or a mustache to be menacing.

'You're finally awake. Good. We are going to need you now.'

'Well. . . Um. . .'

'The annoyance of waking up.'

'Is it still bad out there?'

'It still is. We had Mr. Leg and some officers sent to Iron Heights to take control of the situation. We did found that some of our officers carry powers and had them assist Mr. Leg. Still, we have some of our own still under investigation of how their powers work. If we didn't, something catastrophic might happen.'

'Which reminds me. I was trying to save someone I knew last night. Now I remember. How's Barry?'

'Detective Joe's adoptive son? He's in a safe place at the hospital. Detective Joe is keeping watch at him.'

'Sounds nice.'

'Now stand.'

'Okay. . .'

'Then stand if you can. We don't have time to waste.'

'And um. . . I have one more question: do you know what happened that led to all this?'

'I believe you know the answer yourself.'

'Damn.'

'We already sent officers there, but the only problem was it's crowded with protesters, and people with special powers attempting to find a way to demolish the place down. By now the people in there would be taken over by angry mobs. It's not going to be pretty there. The truth why it happened hadn't got into us yet.'

'I'm going to be needed, don't I?'

'We're living in a dark age right now. Last night, hell was unleashed to our city. No matter how many officers we have on the field, they weren't enough. Until we saw a light.'

'That must be me, right?'

'It was already obvious enough. You were a big help to us last night. Would've been worse. In fact I heard reports of a streak of lightning passing by, saving people, and dropping them off to a hospital. It was a very quick event, or should I say, very fast.'

'Thanks. I guess.'

'Times are always changing. And I hate change. But that doesn't mean we cannot adapt. So you should adapt and help us out. The city won't go well if you stay around a bit longer. I'm really getting tired of everyone blaming the police for not doing our job well, when we're trying to do our best to make them happy.'

'What am I suppose to do next then? I'm a, um, just still processing about everything. I thought I had a crazy dream that was too crazy to be real.'

'I understand your feeling. But while you're thinking; there are people out there who needs your help. They need people like us. They need us to close Hell's Gate. If you're a good man, do something for people's sake. Nobody likes a selfish guy who does nothing.'

There is something I don't like about him. As far as I remember, he seems to know something about Mr. Leg. I didn't even know he exist. The guy is so demanding and he doesn't even bother try to comprehend what's going in my mind. I did fought alongside with him last night, but Mr. Leg was around so things was different. With him not around and this guy in front of my face, I feel like I'm seeing one of those parents who expect too much from their kids without giving them a chance to understand themselves. This guy doesn't even know much about me, and he's treating me like a servant already. He was fine with Mr. Leg around. And the thought that everyone is going to hate me for doing nothing just gives me a bad thought about myself.

I noticed the sun was just rising by just looking at the window. The lights were still shut and everything looked dim. There was so many damages in this, like some hurricane just passed by and left everything in a pile of mess. It was a sad feeling looking around, the officers were all looking busy and stressed out, some of them was being aggressive to his own officers. I even heard people crying behind closed doors, probably wanting some privacy for themselves. And the criminals, they were all tied up, and constantly drugged so they won't get out of control. It's actually kinda horrible how they were being treated, I mean they're the bad guys, but drugging them as an easy solution was just cruel, it could kill them from overdose. Yet what solution can I think of to keep them under control. Having them free was really dangerous and they'll be really angry once they're freed from their ropes and find the ones who tortured them. In fact, do some of the criminals even have powers? I don't really think they do, in spite of the fact I never seen them use it.

While I was walking, I felt something rising up in me each step I made. Could be the effect of walking just after passing out. Then for a weird reason, my hand was starting to shake, real fast. I don't think I absorbed any electricity. What happened last night? Something is going wrong with me.

Carlos tried to make me feel better, 'Like I said, Nick. Don't think about it too hard. I really need you conscious and not going berserk.'

'There's something going on in my powers. It never acted like this.'

And here goes Officer Doug, 'Nick, don't do anything. You'll risk everyone's lives. Everyone get out! Get out!'

As if by instinct, I felt my legs twitching, it was vibrating like an earthquake, only faster. For a quick moment, I lost balance and slip to the ground. I tried to get up, but my arms twitched and I winded up spinning myself to a wall.

I looked up, the police already have their guns aimed at me.

'I told you not to move.'

'I'm having-'

'I told you not to move!'

'ROOAAAARRRR!'

Well, at least that stopped the police giving me the attention I don't need. Because now their guns were aimed at Carlos. Everyone was looking at Carlos and many officers stood up and were ready to shoot at Carlos. That roar from Carlos was like a demon's yell, it was terrifying enough to have people get a heart attack. And because he terrified the people, an officer panicked and shot Carlos. But the injury only cause him to roar more. More officers joined in the shooting as Carlos began to bleed a lot.

The feeling of rush came back to me. It was this intense moment that got my heart pumping and ready for action. But how can I do it without electricity? In fact I don't feel like I'm thinking clear right now. Instead I get a feeling I should do it fast. The downside, I don't know where I'm going. I spin around like a mini hurricane and it got the officers knocked down and their guns dropped.

'You dare shoot me!? You dare shoot me!? I'll kill-'

He was suddenly knocked down from being touched by a woman, as if Carlos fell asleep. She was wearing an officer's uniform but it was a messy looking uniform that looked like it was forgotten to be ironed. Although she may look awake, I could see in her face how tired and frustrated she is. I did noticed she's not wearing any makeup at all, and even though she's young and just looking fine, her tired face made her look old. And there's something about her fingernails, they look like needles.

'Sorry everyone. I thought it was another hourly tiger scream. It's really misleading. I honestly thought time was passing so fast.'

Officer Doug began to yell at her, 'Just inject the other one already!'

I couldn't control myself, I was moving erratically. I'm like Taz from Looney Toons. I was causing a lot of damage to the police office. Desks, computers, papers, and other kind of stuffs were getting wrecked by me. Everyone was trying to get away from me, in fact they're trying to get out of the room, but they get terrified if I wind up crossing them. Even Officer Doug was hesitant to have the officers shoot me since they might shoot their own by accident. That officer with needles on her nails was trying to chase me, but the only problem she has was she looked very drowsy, as if anytime, she'll fall off to the ground and start sleeping.

'Get back here! Don't make me go after you. *Yawning* Don't you make me use this.' She seems really tired.

'Help me!'

'Just get over here you slack. *Yawning*'

As if I could. I'm doing more harm than good in here. Concentrating to control my movement was like trying to pull a leash of a giant dog. It's very embarrassing that I can't even control my own body. Just a slight movement is the least I could do, yet that's not even making much progress. I really tried to trip myself to the group, which as a result, made everything worse than I thought. I was spinning and rotating, and it was painful with speed adding more impact of me hitting the ground. I moved as much as I can, maybe get close to that woman as much as I can. I need her injecting me before she falls asleep, or it'll be bad news for everyone.

Just when I thought it was over for everyone, she finally succeeded, but not without any consequence of pain. As obvious as it should feel, it's like being injected by a doctor, except this time it's with five needles at the same time hitting at my chest, instead of my arms. I finally took control of myself, yet now I'm feeling drowsy. I was suppose to lose consciousness, instead I'm awake.

'Mission *Yawning* accomplished.' She fell off to the ground as soon she finished talking.

Officer Doug walked up on me, 'You have strange powers. This should take a while cleaning this mess. We'll add the damage to your salary, unless you got the right insurance. We'll clean this mess later. Normally I would have arrested you for property damage in the police station. But now I found the perfect service you can provide for us.'

In spite of the damages around, the first thing he inspected was Carlos. Can Carlos survive survive getting shot by many bullets? He may have a strong skin but that doesn't mean it's strong enough to stand against a force of metal penetrating through his body. I don't really know how to react on his death. I'm not so sure if he's dead. I feel a bit glad and worried at the same time. I knew it was a mistake to drag him along, yet talking to him earlier made me think I just made a bizarre friend. What are chances of having a tiger man as a friend for a life time?

'Clearly, the injections weren't enough to have you unconscious, instead it made you have better control over yourself, as if the energy and the sleeping injection neutralized your body. Well that doesn't changed the fact what you had done.'

'Wait. . . What?!'

'You're the one who caused this damages. It's a punishment you deserve for failing to use your powers and potentially getting people harmed. In other words: you have to work if you want to pay for your debts.'

'Not again.'

'Look at the bright, you have a job in case you don't have one. We'll work in your registration later, until the situation in the city became halfway stable. It'll be quite a mess listing the names of all people of this city. We don't know who has powers like you.'

'Why are you acting like some kind of a boss?'

'Don't disrespect me. I'm actually the inspector. Captain Singh is still unconscious. And some of the others were either missing or doing something right now. The people are not going to be happy if you got them hurt.'

'This is basically a more of an excuse to have me motivated to work for the police, isn't?'

'It was the perfect moment that I didn't predict.'

'Just give me time to think. My head is all over the place.'

'How comes you were able to act last night?'

'I don't really know. I just go with the flow and a feeling came into me, but it's gone now. My abilities could've changed.'

'What do you mean?'

'Normally I would need to absorb like some kind of an electricity or probably a bit of an energy in the atmosphere. It's gone. I can probably run without needing to absorb anything. But I'm feeling weirdly pressured and stressed out. I don't really know why I'm feeling like this. Everything felt so real right now, it's like I'm not dreaming at all and I only have one life. I was feeling strong and brave. I thought I was feeling confident. I was at the moment and I just thought I should do something. But this bad feeling was like a delay. And now it came to me. I don't know what to do right now. My head is all over the place.'

'Then stop feeling pressured and get to your job already! Stop using that as an excuse to avoid your responsibility. Shut up and move forward! You're an adult now, stop acting like a child. People like you are the main reason why we're wasting our money so that you can get mentally better when there are matters far worse than that.'

An officer was going to protest on Officer Doug, 'Don't pressure him like that. He won't work properly if you give him a bad treatment.'

'Nobody gives you the authority to talk to me.'

I guess I got no option, 'Fine. I-I-I'll do it. Tell me where to go. First, give me time to get hold of my powers.

'We'll drop you off along with Officer Sky and Carlos.'

'The road should be i-in a mess.'

'The road has traffics, but not the sky.'

'What are you saying?'

'We'll use a helicopter and drop off at a safe building nearby Star Labs. It's not going to be safe, since criminals with powers are inclined to shoot us, probably with lasers or fireball. Some of them might even know how to fly, although flying would probably take months to master it. Flying high is the best option we have.'

'A helicopter?!'

'Get used to it. When you're working with the police force, you better overcome your fear. Or else we'll have you locked up until we find a solution what to do with people like you.'

'Wait a second. He's dead. . . Carlos is dead. . . And he'll be too heavy. . .' I can't even believe he's dead. I thought I was starting to know him.

'The injection healed his wounds. That's why we should bring Officer Sky with us. We have a helicopter that is made to carry something heavy arriving soon. Although there won't be enough space for everyone, I recommended to have him carried like a giant log. The only problem our pilot is going to have is arriving here without taking too much damage from hostiles below. In fact, while we wait here, you better learn how to use your powers. Whatever happened to it, learn it at this instant. You'll be needed at clearing the ground so the helicopter may pass through. No. That's not right. You would have to go to the police aviation and have it secured. Once it left, you have to clear the ground.'

'I thought the helicopter would be arriving.'

'I made a mistake, but now I made a better solution.'

'You want me to run by myself?'

'Why else? It's the perfect option and the most efficient. I don't like wasting time. Each minute passes, more people die. You're the only one I know who's capable enough to this. Get to it.'

What wrong with him? The longer he talks, the longer I wished I was born without ears. It's hard to think with his voice nagging at me. How does he even live with himself? Why do I get a feeling he acted like that because he doesn't have a girlfriend? The more he talks, the more stressing thoughts gets into me, like a pile of homework shoving at my face at the same thing without giving me time to process it at a time. He's not letting me work at my own pace, and he's now expecting me to work harder than everyone else all because I have powers. I only get to know it last knight, but then it changed out of nowhere like another slap in the face and I lost control over it. That the only thing I hate about sleeping, is made you unconscious when you're peaceful meaning you're not aware how relaxed you felt, then once you wake up, reality started to punch every part of me and it's the only part when I'm conscious.

'Get going already. Once you get you're powers back, you're halfway there.'

'I can't even defend myself. Why can't you have people protect over me? In fact why can't we just go to Star Labs directly.'

'It's how much I hate of getting casualties. We need as many guards protecting this place. And once you get your powers back, they'll be abandoned in a middle of a road.'

'I can just carry them. Or better yet, let me stay here until the injection's effects shut down.'

'I don't like risking time. We already wasted five minutes because of you. Just take this.'

He handed me a handgun. I don't really know how to react to this. I was thought to never use a gun on people, because guns can kill people in an instant compared to punching. My foster dad wouldn't approve me using it. He told me his parents were killed by an armed thief. I really need to defend myself or else I'll die. At a time like this, I had to be armed against people with weird powers that could probably incinerate me. I feel I should talk some sense at the officer, but it's going to be useless. He's a stubborn know-it-all , and it's not going to make him happy if I should talk back more. But there is one more I got to ask.

'What about Carlos?'

'That man-tiger? He should be fine as long we continue to inject him. I like tigers when they're sleeping because that's the only time I don't see their savage eyes and teeth. Officer Sky would be awaken soon. She's always drowsy even before she began to work here. Her files had said she's always drowsy even when she's at middle-school.'

'Oh.'

So I left the building. There were officers guarding outside the door with a special officer having one of his hands smoking red gas like there's some kind of holes in his hands. He does seem he's trying to figure out how to use it. I kept distant in case it's dangerous to breath in the gas. I'm alone now with chaos standing in front of my face. The safe place right behind me, just watching me leave. The only thing that's making me feel safe is a gun, but it also makes me guilty. It goes against everything my foster dad thought me. He thought me an alternative in the past, just using some martial arts, but that's not going to protect me from a monster who could vomit lava at me. At least the map is not giving me a bad effect. Officer Doug gave it to me because I forgot where the police aviation was at. It's the only thing I hoped not to lose or it'll be bad news. I would have use my phone and take pictures, but the battery is dead and so as the wifi and any form of connection I could use.

Chaos is still happening in this city. A lot of people running around, criminals running free, and weird looking people with weird abilities causing havoc whether they intend it or not. I did see some police around, but they are looking busy. Interrupting them sounds like a bad idea. My powers so far, not so much progress. Just standing here without powers, made me realize how vulnerable I feel. It was so great last night just running with super speed and I could avoid as much problems as much as I like. I kinda miss my old powers. I could just run fast, but there's limit. I just want to keep on running without stopping and worrying about anything.

I tried to sneak in from short alleys and small stores where there's barely anyone around. I suddenly saw a shadow behind me. I had a gun out to protect myself, and without a second thought, I started shooting. So much fear was going on in my mind, I want it to go away, I didn't care how much bullets I wasted. Then I heard a click, the pistol's empty. I looked around if I got someone, unfortunately, I missed all much shots, because that person is still standing. Looking closely, it was a woman, a weird woman wearing a cat suit. It was a skin thought suit that completely covered her body, even her face which makes me wonder how she breath. I was feeling nervous, until she suddenly hugged me. Why would she do that? What is she planning?

'Oh, Nick. It's so good to see you again. It's been years since the last time I saw you. You look so different now compared to your pictures.'

'. . . Who. . . Are you. . . ?'

'You may not recognize me because of the mask, but I'll have you see my face later. It's too dangerous for me to take it off right now. My name is Olivia. Olivia Kyle.'

'I don't know you.'

'I knew you were going to say that. I thought the letter was an enough hint for you. You even forgot that I like cats. You should be ashamed of yourself for forgetting me. All it matters now is we're back together.'

'Stay away from me! You probably mistaken me for someone else.'

'I don't make mistakes when it comes to you.'

What is she saying? I do feel I knew her from someone, but I can't think right now. There is so much going on and I don't know who to trust. Everything is suddenly going crazy, and now there is a woman wearing a cat suit claiming she knew me in the past. I really did tried to remember when I heard about that name. But the only thing I could do now was to push her away and run. She might be crazy, or probably she's planning to mug me or ruin my life. Running should be my best option right now, but I'll like the option better if I could do it faster. The sleeping injection still had my powers shut down. I ran without looking back. If I ran far enough, she won't be able to capture me or worse. My legs is giving up on me already, even my heart and lungs, I just want to get this over with. I heard her voice from behind, she was crying out, sounding like she was worried. I finally gave me. There was nothing else for me to do. . . In a small bright side, a small feeling of rush came back to me, but it's not my powers. It was my instinct, and it's telling me that I had to fight back, because either way, I'll die, but fighting gives me a better chance of living. But before I could do nothing, I was already overwhelmed my her. . .


	6. Chapter 6

Notes from Protarn: If you credit this story more than the television series of the the Flash, you deserve a slap in the face, because I might get accused of something. In addition, you deserve to get hit by a meteorite if you didn't read the last five chapters, since sloth is a sin and being too lazy to read the last five chapters is considered as a sin. Give credit to my friend Nicholas for letting me use his original character, Nicholas who would soon become the Bolt.

Before this chapter began: our hero woke up after an intense battle and for some reason he lost control over his abilities, and now he's forced to get help by himself without getting assistance from the police while his powers were shut down by an officer. While in his journey, he was knocked down by a weird woman who seems to be cosplaying in public and not in a convention where she belong. . .

Would've been really great if I got injected by one needle instead of five, and I should've been dead getting injected on my chest where my lungs at and so as my heart. Thanks to that woman who suddenly fell asleep on front of me, my powers were still sleeping. And I'm helpless right now because this lady in a cat suit is about to do bad things to me. I was hoping I would survive knowing the fact I escaped death, but there is no one to save me and I am tied up. Basically, I'm screwed. Still waiting for a miracle to happen or a deus ex machina. Maybe a plot armor to save me.

The woman who told me she's Olivia Kyle, she kidnapped me and put me in an abandoned apartment. It was a messy place and I have a feeling no one could hear me if I tried to scream, but who's going to help me with everyone outside running for their lives. At least there is a lightbulb to make the place not so dark, but the light only exposed the stains, the dust, and the broken chairs. There better not be dead rats around here. They smell horrible. Not a nice looking place to look at, and it reminded me of a horror film I once saw. Things did not end well for the victim.

'Sorry, I have to do this Nick. I can't let anyone see my face in public while I'm wearing this. I didn't want to risk the police seeing me. Do you have any idea how much I worked to get through the police just to see you.'

If I were to die, at least I would see something really pretty which in fact it is. For a moment, I looked at her face, there was something clicking in my brain like a bolt of lightning striking my brain. I did met her before and I did heard her name. For some weird reason, it felt like my powers came back a bit, like a little spark awakening something I forgotten. The same sight when I first see her: her dark-blonder her and her pale skin. I can't tell whether it was me or it was my powers doing the job. Either way, memories came flowing back at me: I remembered being at the orphanage after my parents died. I was only a child when it happened, just me and my sister hoping to have a better life. While I was waiting, I met someone along the way, her name was Olivia. She and I had been friends for so long, until we got separated when me and my sis got adopted. I haven't seen her since. . . I wish I could say something more, as in feeling glad I get to meet her again. But it seems that she changed over the years. What led her to become like that? It made me nervous just thinking what she really wanted from me.

'Olivia. . .'

'You finally recognized me. It's been so long since I actually saw you in person.'

'Wow. It's really you. I never thought I would see you again.'

'Things I do just for you. After all this hard work, it finally paid off. Mom's advice was really helpful. So what have you been up to? This city is too dangerous to live in.'

'I'm. . . Uh. . . Taking a stroll. . .'

'In a place filled with people with weird magical powers. I was hoping I'd see you either at your work or in your home, not in a place where there's a talking giant lizard proclaiming itself as the enormous lizard from that Japanese monster franchise. At least it was a lizard and not something else from Japan. I heard it's a weird place but I would like to visit there.'

'There's destruction outside. . . Why are you so happy?'

'It's a reunion, of course I'm happy. More happy than terrified what's going out there. As long we're here and you're with me, you have nothing to worry. You'll always be safe with me.'

'But I have to go somewhere.'

'At a time like this? Where? You were in a safe place when you were with the police. Which is something I'll be good with if you're okay with it. But remember: the police don't like me.'

'I have to leave. . .'

'Aren't you going to ask why the police hated me so much?'

'I would, but I remembered I had to do something. I was told I had to help out the people.'

'Why would you help them? You can just leave the city and live happily. You can stay with me if you like.'

'Sorry. It's been so long and there's a lot of things going on in my mind. I feel glad I get to see you again, I really do. But I'm feeling stressed out not helping out some people out there. I just had to.'

'What did the people did for you that made them deserve help?'

'Well. I'm just doing my job which is something I got recently hired for.'

'You're going to die out there!'

'Then I'll try not to.'

'If you're going out there, I'm coming with you.'

'What?!'

'You'll need someone who knows how to fight out there.'

'I don't care if you know how to punch and kick out there. I care more if you have some kind of weapon to protect me. Those people out there might turn you into stones if you look into their eyes. I was really considering using hand combat that was taught to me by my foster dad.'

'Not even raising you can make you capable enough to defend yourself. We can run together. I know ways to run from people. If I can passed through those people, we can make through this together. And if you tried to leave without me, I'll follow you anyway.'

'Okay. Fine. You can help me out. Maybe later we can talk.'

'Thank you so much for having faith on me. It's just like the old times.'

Should I trust her? I have no idea how she'll react that I'm one of those people with powers. I have to make sure what kind of ability I have right now. The only thought I got was that I could move faster. Maybe this ability can help me run fast, but I can't control it. Was it because it's too fast for me, or did I lost something that allows to have control over myself? Well, there's only one person who can keep me alive right now, so I have to rely on her. Guys at the police station are relying at me. Thinking about them, I realized they should've come alongside with me so we can leave immediately to Star Labs. I did it on my own anyway, because the amount of pressure the inspector was giving me. I still don't get why he didn't call himself an inspector. I mean that's a role bigger than being a detective.

'By the way. You almost forgot this.'

It was the gun I used on her earlier. I forgot I was holding one.

'When did you-'

'You'll need it.'

'Didn't I tried to shoot you earlier?'

'It was only self-defense. I should be really sorry for trying to scare you, and dragging you here. I don't really want to hurt you.'

'Oh. That's okay then.'

'Thank you for forgiving me. I was upset at myself the whole time.'

'Just stop trying to pity yourself. You're making me feel horrible.'

'Oh. Oh. Sorry-I mean sorry again for saying sorry-I did it again-I'm so-'

'Let's just get going.'

The gun doesn't feel light after emptying the chamber. She must had it reloaded. Was she really that scared of losing me? Every time I tried to talk to her, she sounded needed and scared. She seem like she's scared of losing me, just seeing how desperate she is. In fact, how did she dodged the bullets? I don't think I was really aiming at anything, but does seem like a skill just dodging and even outrunning me. Even after years of training, and forgetting how to train, it made me realize how much I wasted my skills. As if I got punished for giving up on training in the gym.

Getting out, I realized that it was a small apartment that's falling apart. That building should've been demolished and rebuilt as homes for homelessness. In fact, all buildings in this city are going to be like that apartment: a structure of wreckage. This city might soon become the next Detroit, or should I say, Super Detroit. It does made me think how my apartment was doing. I don't like my stuff getting into another mess and me ending up becoming homeless. It same goes for my neighbors. I don't even know why I'm thinking about them at this moment. After all these years, I seem to get attached with them in spite of the fact I don't get to talk with them that often.

I was feeling happy that Olivia didn't lose the map. That's one thing good about her: she's someone I could rely on. I look over the map, I had to triple check where the police aviation was at. For some reason, that place was kinda far from the police station I was at. The police aviation was kind of its own thing. It's the only police station that specialized in aircrafts, and it has its own field of helicopters. I did get a feeling they had the field for themselves for training and adding plenty of space for the the the event we're in now, people must be attempting to take over that place or trash it.

We make our way through the city with more chaos happening around. It doesn't look as messy as it was before, but it looks like it's been taken over by the system known as anarchy. There's a group of gang in the street. The buildings around were tall and meant for businesses. If a large gang took the place over, it'll be a major headquarter for them. From the looks of it, the gang is at stage one, the stage when they don't look like an army from Lord of the Rings, but soon they'll grow and gather more crew. With them having powers, it's more like an army of Saiyans. I just got to hope don't have lasers coming out from their mouth. A detour is our best chance avoiding them. I'm not really so sure to take them down or not. For some reason, I felt little sparks flowing through my body. I feel a small vibration going in my hands. As if my powers are coming back. The street looked really tight and the cars are in the way so probably we can them to hide ourselves. Or we take a different which would waste our time, and I don't want to show up at the police aviation on what it fell apart. Nobody even knows if it's still standing. The phones are not working and no one could confirm who's dead or not. This is what happened if I tried to race against time. I hate feeling guilty. As long I'm not there, I'll feel bad about myself. I had to make a gamble, either way it's a gamble with one being safer while the other getting sooner to get the helicopter. Just going to hope with luck on my side and powers coming back to save me. When it's truly coming back, I still don't know. But what will I do once it comes back? I can't control it and all it does was cause a big mess. What if I could use the mess against them?

'I have an idea Olivia.'

'We'll abandon this mission?'

'We'll go forth against those guys.'

'No! What are you a David? You can't fight an army of Goliaths.'

'We don't have to fight them.'

'But you're horrible at stealth.'

'I guess you didn't know much about me over the years. I got some experience on hiding. I haven't practice for a while in this level of danger. It'll be worth the risk.'

'That's so brave. I'm still going ahead. Just follow me. I had plenty of practice. Think of this as a training between us.'

I now have a better understand of this pressure. It was like before taking a test and while taking a test. The feeling of tension before taking the test was building up until the point I'll take it. Not having control over my abilities just makes me think how I'm going to die. I do feel like I want to stop thinking and just let someone drag me away from the problem. It was a relief that I can jus follow Olivia than doing this on my own. I didn't do much practice because I was too busy working. I thought it was a waste of time. Who would've thought it can finally be useful at this day and time? And it became the skill I needed the most when I lost practice. Having confidence is the key to survival. Think positive and survive.

I never felt so grateful not getting a driver's license. The insurance company would be upset seeing how wasted those cars are. What is bad for them is good for us. Those bad guys seem to be trying to occupy a business building right next to us. It looked like a company handling cars. The irony. Thinking thoroughly, the gang could either be thinking of selling them or using them to take over the city. With more recruitments, it could become a Mad Max movie taking place in an apocalyptic city. They might become the most dangerous criminals in Central City. How bad would it be if there's a driver with the ability to cause the car to fly or probably have someone shoot lasers that can mange anything instantly blew up. Can't tell what I should do at this point. I have no idea how many of them are and how many of them understand their abilities. The longer nobody stop them, the more time they learn how much damage they can do. I'm in a middle of a conflict right now what I should do. My powers is slowly coming up. Though I can't move fast, I still feel it. Another gamble I got to do. If I fail, I die. Got more tension rising in me and the feeling of pressure. With Doug, the people, Olivia, the bad guys, and so much more, I can't think much what to do.

Olivia was whispering to me, 'Don't you ever give up on me. Believe in yourself, Nick.'

Out of nowhere my I heard voices, 'I knew I heard something.'

Did one of them just heard us? We were just sneaking through the cars. Olivia made sure there's no one patrolling around. They are just by the entrance of the door which is far away from the street. Something tells me one of them has the power to hear well. And there's a group of them standing on front of us. Going this way was a mistake.

'Run, Nick. I'll hold them off.'

I began making our way through covers as the bad guys began to shoot at us. Olivia on the other hand, run forth and started to fight them on close-combat. Surprisingly she fights really well. What had she been through after all these years? She was moving like a ninja as she taken them down flawlessly. However, there's a bad guy on front of us with a special ability. His arms were looking as sharp as a sword and it looked like it could cut her in half with one slice.

Being scared of getting chopped, my handgun was ready and I fired at him. I tried to stay calm and confident, and this time focus on my target. I was succeeded and failed at the same time. The sword-armed guy took some shoots and he screamed from the pain. Each time a bullet hit him, guilt built up on me. It was murder I was doing. And Olivia, she took a bullet on a shoulder. She lost her rhythm in fighting because of me. I caused this damage. It was so instant when a bullet was fired.

I think I just killed a guy. One of them got upset after seeing I shot his friend to death. This is probably why my foster dad hated guns so much. It could kill someone quick without any mercy, no forgiveness. It's like executing someone without hearing them out. Like what I was told, there is no turning back from death. And I could've killed Olivia. I screamed and shocked what I had done. Calming down wouldn't help me in this. This is my first time actually shooting someone.

'Olivia!'

'No. It's my fault for getting in your way.'

'What is wrong with you? I just shot you. This is the last time I'm ever going to use a gun.'

'You need it or you'll die!'

Before I could see the baddies from the windows, I was shot down by things as sharp as needles. It's worse than being injected by the needles. My body feel like trembling, it felt like my body was going to shut down, as if my organs were damaged, it's like there was a hot poison spreading through my body. The pain was overwhelming, I couldn't think what to do than to hold on to the pain and make sure I don't die. There is so much darkness spreading in my eyes. Yet at the same time, I feel sparks spreading inside me, a small vibration turning my body into an earthquake. For a weird reason, the pain is vanishing. . . And bullets seemed to fall off from my body. . .

I heard someone screaming, it sounded like Olivia. I can't see her clearly. It's so loud in here. All I hear is a ringing sound echoing inside my ears. While my senses shut down, there is one sense that seemed to stay strong, I felt footsteps on the ground until it fell heavy, as if someone fell of to the ground.

Why am I doing this? Well, it was my choice doing this. I could've say no. I had the chance to avoid this, just leave this city. It was going to be about me saving the city. I didn't know it would become complicated or get me killed. Don't good things happen to people who do the right thing? And here I am getting myself shot. Just like the saying of only the strongest can survive. That would mean the bad guys would win and rule the world. Something had to be done. There is a little rage in me that's rising. Was it injustice? It does get really annoying and horrible letting bad things happen around us. Fun for the villains, a misery to the innocents. Look where I am right now: suffering, dying, and hoping they'll be an afterlife for me. Yet the feeling of rush is coming back to me. The feeling I had when I ran around the city and gone through battles. It was the feeling of adrenaline and the fast beat of my heart. Despite the fact I'm dying, there's something deep inside me that wanted to live. I once had a training years ago in a cave and I was terrified, but it was at that moment that my body moved at its own. Recently, I had been fighting my fears. The moment when I'm afraid at this instant, when I'm in the situation where I'm literally going to die, the will to live fights on. It's like my body knows when it's in danger, while having no feeling of pressure like taking a test or before taking the test. No matter how may tests I take, I will always get nervous, yet at the same time, I get the determination to pass, as if the things that makes me scared fueled my will to go on. And it was at this moment that I realized someone needs my help. There are people who needs my help. Did I helped them because I was scared of failing them? Nevertheless, it seems I just got something back. Like a strike of lightning.

I didn't know how fast I was running. It was just like before: running like a bolt of lightning, a speed that rivaled the speed of light. Even without the electricity to make me have better control over myself, I feel like I was able to focus where I'm going, as if I'm acting on natural instinct like how a spider learned how to make its web without being directly thought by its mom. I immediately ran to Olivia and carry her out from harm's way without harming her. She's fine. . . My powers didn't hurt her. . . There was so much going on in my mind earlier, but somehow it's cleared now. All it matters now is to save Olivia and survive. To avoid having her get hurt, I hid her behind a building, so I could get into my business. Giving the bad guys the rights to have their ass kicked. Seeing Olivia shot, it was infuriating. I could've prevented it. Years of training had me prepared for this, and I wasted it. Probably my powers and the gun was a way to compensate it, but it wasn't enough. . . I had to put a stop to them. As long they're around, people like Olivia and me are going to be shot and lose their lives. No one is going to be happy. The feeling of vibration seems like it's rising inside me and the sparks felt like energy that's making me feel hyper. I feel like I'm losing control myself. Maintaining focus and concentrating how to manifest the energy in me will help me in this. Without giving myself more thoughts, I ran straight for the future villains' home.

They noticed I was running straight for them, they were already trying too shoot me with their guns, even the type that looked like that came from an organized gang. There's a bad guy by the second floor who's throwing rocks that's growing from his arms, or should I say, arm. I then realized that those rocks were bombs. In spite of his effort, I was already in the building seconds before the rock hit ground. It was few seconds before it exploded. There isn't as many as I thought they would be. However, their few numbers compensates it with them having powers. For some reason, they took the time to understand what they could do and looked like they're okay with their newfound power. There's a guy who is most likely a woman whose eyes looked like a fly, but the good thing is that he doesn't have any wings or stingers to poison me. Another is definitely a woman who looks clear like water yet at the same time it looked like water trapped inside a glass as hard as diamond. It's the good thing there's only three of them, yet the last one gives me a weird feeling. Ever since I got into range with him, I feel a little disoriented. He's the reason I should take him down first or else I'll lose control over my ability.

It was more challenging than I thought. The plan to take down the third guy made me dizzy, the closer I get, the dizzied I feel, and the better chance for me to get shot and lose control over myself. He's creating some kind of an invincible wave that he seem to manipulate its direction. I got to run around outside to get some rocks to throw at him. Surprisingly, it was more than effective, the rocks punched him like bullets, yet the rocks did not went inside his body. I was thinking adding too much force could kill him, I added a lot of concentration while running, it gave me a little ache in my head, but even not in full strength, it knocked the third guy out. The woman is the tricky one, her body is actually like diamond, and when I tried to punch her, it broke my hand. I had to run for few seconds to recover from the pain. Taking her down last would be best.

However, this guy who I should now referred as, Bug-Eye, was able to sense my movements. I was fast, too fast for their eyes to follow, yet Bug-Eye was able to predict what I was going to do. For just having a human body, he's strangely fast and flexible. The injury is not making things easier, there's a trail of blood that I created. That looks like more than five pints of blood. I should be dead by now, plus a feeling of shock had to be experience first before death. But I'm not dead. I fight on instead. Bug-Eye and those two were aware. Fighting this guy is a bad idea. Thanks to my speed, he can't reach me. They knew I'm dying and since I'm too fast to be seen, they let the blood do the work. He's watching what I'm doing, studying my movements, waiting until I get tired, at the same time getting the dizzy feeling even after the third guy being knocked down. Touching him is impossible! Then things got worse. I got stabbed by a knife. . . The glass woman approached me. . . And her punch was like diamond, maybe stronger. I felt bones breaking in my body and my body shutting down for a bit. The third guy was up, holding a gun, aimed at me.

'Would be nice if we have someone like him. If something gives us a pain in the ass, imagine how much pain it would give to others.'

The glassy woman was standing by him, 'There's plenty of fish in the sea anyway.'

'He could be the only one. That's really depressing when a new kind arrives only to be extinguished. Imagine if there's only one potato chip in the world and then it got eaten. I could see in his eyes, he has no intention of joining us.'

The vibration in me is getting stronger. I am becoming an earthquake. . . Everything around me shook. I didn't spin around this time, as if I did this on purpose. I focused on my body to shake the floor. The two of them fell down to the ground, while Bug-Eye maintained balanced. There's a detail I noticed, the vibration on the ground is leaving a crack on her legs. Bug-Eye was going to throw his knife at me, until I spun myself off the ground. My eyes is blacking out from all this. With the stab, the diamond punch, and the shots, I'm dying right now. Running away is my best option right now. What was I thinking going after them? I didn't know they have that kind of ability. Well, luck decided to go against me this time. It's always about luck when it comes to battle. I can run fast, I can take them down so easily Even after beating them, what can I do to their fellows upstairs. There could be more of them coming down right now with abilities that could be more dangerous than those three. How can I keep up this long?

I failed. . .

Running away is the best option right now. It was too hard for me. . . At least I can still save something. I can still save Olivia and bring her to a safe hospital. This is all I could do. The police aviation would have to wait. . . So much guilt is building up in me. This is the feeling of defeat, it's like failing to do my projects in time in spite of the fact I worked hard on it. I gave myself a false hope earlier, but this feeling of false hope was the reason I was able to keep on running. Until I tripped. . . I was going to jump over the cars, but I ended making the wrong step. It only made my injuries worse. Now I'm on the ground. I tried to get up, gathering all my strength, yet the vibration in my hands is making it difficult for me to get up. Concentrating is useless.

Then I saw a red lightning in front me of. It was the man in the yellow suit again. . .


	7. Chapter 7

Notes from Protarn: If you made it this far, congratulations. Here's an imaginary trophy for your patience and being a survivor. And those who skipped the previous chapters deserved to get hit by a super speeding hand and have their existence erased by time traveling. Give credit to my good friend, Nicholas for letting me use his character and not letting me get sidetracked or misinterpret his characters. Don't forget to support Newt18, hrb264, Saiyali, and Whitloch. And never forget to credit the Flash television series.

Last note, I'll be moving myself to and . Bolt content would still be ongoing in Wattpad.

Five minutes ago: Main Hero got beat up and nearly killed by a gang who are surprisingly capable with their powers. He accidentally shot his childhood friend who is probably dead by now unless if she can run to the hospital by herself, while still injured from a fatal wound. And now our hero confronts the man in the yellow suit for the third time who probably should have showed up early to save him from the beating. . .

Well, just like all the saying, the third time's the charm. He finally got me when I'm in most vulnerable. The guy is now carrying me to a place that would be my final destination. In the bright side, at least I can get to see how nice the city in spite of itself. I was feeling numb, all I can do was just look what's going on in front of my eyes. No matter how fast I ran, I didn't pay much attention looking at the view while running so fast. Time was passing fast as if I'm being dragged to the future. Looking at this view, I'm seeing a lot of things under a minute, and I could almost picture all of them at the same time. Every sight was like paintings put in all the same places, like a tragic art coming to life. I'm starting to value my powers now, the scenery was like flipping through the pages yet I was able to picture in my head what was going on, not a single detail missed. Still surprised I'm not dead yet. Another miracle and luck saving my life in the last minute again. If I have any strength left, I'll laugh after what I've been through. Imagine how things could've gone if I lasted for more than a week, and I'm already down less than a day. The sound I'm hearing right now is the speed of the wind and panic. I just realized something, all of this happened, the position I am in right now, was all because I got a building burned because I was too distracted watching my favorite shows. An important advice was given to me was to give all attention to the food when cooking. Or am I just overlooking this? I can't think what to say anything about myself. Helplessness is how I feel now.

I suddenly felt a stop. It was so dark in here. Could be my eyes or the blood loss taking into affect in my head. My arm then felt a needle injecting it. More addition to pain, as if dying is not enough. However, I feel a bit stronger. There's something in that needle that's preventing me from dying. Who's helping me now? I opened my. . . The yellow stands in front of me. . .

'Don't struggle. Adding too much pressure to your body would give difficulties to your healing.'

Is he actually helping me? Why would he want me alive? He probably want something from my powers.

I couldn't tell what's going on in the expression of his face, his face is as blurry as ever, 'Don't try to say a single word if you don't want to die. Another shot of nutrients should do. It would accelerate your healing even faster.'

This can't be real. Craziness is taking over my head. It is what happens when losing blood. A lot of particles are in the blood that keeps us alive, like oxygen, iron, calcium, carbohydrates, and other nutrients. Even the brain needs some breathe of air to think properly. So I'm going crazy. The guy who tried to kill me earlier is now saving my life. It would be ironic that he only save my life just to kill me. That's happen when you're the bad guy, taking the hobby to make people suffer, just like the villains of Gotham.

I soon realized he tied me by a rectangular column.

Th guy was acting strangely reassuring, 'I know you cannot trust me after all what happened earlier. I had made you suffer, and I deserve to be brought under justice for the crimes I had done to you. But understand this, I have no intention of killing you. Times had been drastic and I had to do something to end the destruction in the city.'

'You-'

'I said no words! You refused to listen earlier, but I am taking the chance now to have you listen to everything I say and have you believe me that I have no evil intention. You see, I am here to fix the mistake Star Labs had done. I was only gathering potential dangers around the city. You know the dangers I'm talking about. People who are capable enough to destroy the city, or perhaps an ability to enslave everyone. The power you have, it's a special ability. Imagine how successful thieves, madmen, corrupt officials, and serial killers would be if they were able to possess such ability. This city would no longer be safe. My job is to reduce the amount of damages.'

I feel like I could move again. I think I don't feel like falling apart anymore.

'That should be enough. Talking would no longer be a danger to you.' The Reverse Flash said.

'Who. . .'

'Reverse-Flash.'

'Never heard of that name. . . I feel like I heard of you before. . . A guy in a yellow suit. . .'

'Anyone could be wearing a yellow suit. Like anyone can wear a stormtroopers uniform and they'll look the same.'

'You tried to kill me earlier. . .'

'Neutralizing is not killing.'

'You tried to kill me. . .'

'After that experience with the magnet? You deserve an apology from that. But I promise you, I'll give you a reason why should see me as your friend. We'll start taking back Star Labs.'

'Star Labs. . . Wait a second. . . I remember now! I was suppose to escort a helicopter to the station!'

'There is no time for that! Why would you need to bring a helicopter to the station anyway.'

'The police need it to transport themselves to Star Labs.'

'That's the stupidest thing I had ever had in my life. They should've gone to Star Labs themselves.'

'Because we have a guy in charge who doesn't want any casualties.'

'And they claim themselves to be heroes. Pathetic. I once know someone who is willing to risk his life for everyone. That's a hero there. He didn't let his gifts get over his head.'

'I should get going. Those people need me.'

My body is starting to vibrate again. I'm going to lose control over myself again!

'You're not even ready yet! Do you think it's worth it right now? Do you think your time with them is worth wasting? Look at you, you have the power to run fast. With my help, Star Labs would be safe from danger.'

'What do you want from Star Labs?'

'Retribution.'

'. . . . . . . W-what?'

'Those people in Star Labs are fools. Their ambition to be known across history has brought a great consequence. The activation should've been done somewhere else where the risk is low. Doing it in the city is a reflection of how determination to accomplish greatness can take away human compassion. Like kings who built castles over houses for the people, in which the people were forced to take care of themselves.'

'What are you saying. . ? What are you trying to tell me?'

(Reverse-Flash): Before anything else gets worse, we have to take over Star Labs because it could have the key to fix everything. To tell you the truth, I had worked there. I tried to warn everyone but nobody listened. From the looks in you, you have been getting difficulties with your powers recently. Something happened to you at the police station. As if your powers had changed. But I don't think we have time for that. You need to learn the basics of your powers. The first step is maintaining your speed.

I feel the vibration coming back. I don't know what he wants from me or what he knows about me, but there is one thing I'm sure, he has to do with the incident in Star Labs. But before I could move any longer, he injected me with a different needle. The vibration began to slow down in a steady pace.

'I was watching you earlier.' He went on, 'At some point you have perfect control over yourself and yet you wind up causing damage around you unintentionally. If you know how to use your powers, you would have run by now before I injected you. And don't worry. Your powers are not completely shut down. I gave you a serum that made you almost sleepy. You can still run, but not run fast.'

'WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME! Just give me a reason why I should help you out of all people? Why choose me out of everyone?'

'Because you're special. And we need more good special people. Also, I need a friend I could trust.'

'I don't know you!'

'Here's something I could prove myself. Look at the corner.'

Now that my mind is feeling clear, the place looked surprisingly clean and well-managed compared to the building I was in. It's one of those building that has like hundreds of offices and papers flying around, and the windows are walls themselves to have a view on the city. It looked messed just seeing the city in its current state.

I did what he told me. By the wall is a woman lying down on the floor. It was Olivia! She looked okay from the looks of it.

'I'm not just a person who hurts people. I take care of them. But it's impossible to be everywhere at the same time. In this instant, I could've been helping your fellow officers. They could be dead, suffering, screaming for help. I really want to help them. But even I knew I'm going to need some help. Someone who could run fast like me. The ability to run fast is a great gift. Look carefully outside.'

He freed me from the ropes. I walk to the windows. So much irony raised up. Didn't even expect to be so close at Star Labs. He brought me here out of all places. I was there earlier. Who would've thought I would get there so soon? As if death had given me a second chance. It really does look a dystopian world. There's fire and wreckage everywhere. Some of the officers are outside taking care their injured friends and civilians as they tried to hold off some superpowered people. The entrance was heavily barricaded by cars, meaning the only way to get in was to either blow the entrance up or find someone strong enough to pry it open. It was looking horrible out there, the feeling it gave me was despair.

And I went over to Olivia to see if she's okay. I looked over to see her wounds had been bandaged. Yet I get a feeling she's still dying. The bondage was just there to stop the bleeding.

'Here's the deal. I know someone from Star Labs who can save her life.' He continued on, 'The only problem: the place had been taken over by the people. And by now she would be taken hostage. I have a feeling Harrison Wells would be executed if they were to find him. '

'I can just go to a different doctor.'

'Do you think they have time? They are taking care of hundreds of patients while the computers are shut down. The computers in Star Labs are still functional unless they decided to tear the place apart.'

There has to be another way. This guy could've saved those officers. He should've spent his time saving people rather than wasting them on me. That's not heroic what he's doing. He got to be manipulating me. But I can't think of any words right now. Any moment from now, he would kill me without any hesitation. My powers are feeling weak right now and time is being wasted. Olivia is dying and I should do something. The stress and the pressure builds up anger in me. I don't want to take orders from him. I don't want to risk helping the wrong guy. Even risk my own life for someone's selfish goal. Otherwise, the bad guys win in the end of the day. The feeling of vibration came back to me. The wounds in my body dissipates and the feeling of rush flowing through my body. I'm feeling eager now to take him down.

Speed came back to me and ran lightning fast to the Reverse-Flash. Sadly, he seems he predicted what I was going to do. He already caught my punches and kick me on my stomach super fast.

'I've figured you'd do that. I am glad you were able to resist the serum. It was sooner than what I calculated. You know, instead of fighting me, go to Star Labs and save your friend. No matter how fast you run, you won't find a doctor who could save her in time. What is your chose: fight me or your friend?'

Tears began to fall off from my eyes. I loose concentration of myself. My body began to vibrate uncontrollably.

He said to me, 'Focus. Always stay focus of your body.'

'What do you expect me to do?'

'Just think about not vibrating. You are the master of your body. You control the speed. The speed is not your master. Think of a reason why you should manifest the power of the speed. Why do you think you deserve to use the power? What gave you the reason to help people? Think. Focus. Let this be your motive. Let that be your incentive to use your power and have the power serve you instead.'

Earlier I used my power to save Olivia's life. I may have forgotten her in the past, but seeing her hurt, brought back memories of why I was so close to her. Seeing her dead felt like a tragic closure, a friendship just made only to hurt me. I made a choice, and I used the choice to prevent the tragedy. And I used the power save myself from him. It's the feeling that gave me the strength to control myself. I do wonder the specific factors. Was is fear that made me do this? Or was it anger? I get a lot of feelings, a large flow of emotion going through my body that made me act before I could think carefully of a plan. Yet, I'm feeling troubled. Best not to think about to hard no matter how much the thought is scratching my head.

'Maybe this will help.'

I was then suddenly pulled, as if I'm like a magnet following a lightning bolt very quickly. Resistance is what went on in my mind, I was going to fight back, until I realized I'm already at the entrance of Star Labs. Standing between the line of the police and the mobs. Olivia was carried as well, still unconscious, still dying from her fatal injury. If given the chance to do something, I have to take it, or else Olivia dies. . .

I heard a voice from behind. It was the police officers barricading themselves behind any cover they could find, since all cars in the area had been used for the entrance; looking closely at the cars, they were strangely molded together by something but there was no sign of molding, as if those cars were made from the start to look merged and deformed, as well looking disturbing, They were yelling at us, or more like at me. The Reverse-Flash was already gone, he disappeared somewhere. It's only me and Olivia.

One of the officers happen to have power too. It was a gross looking ability, or should I say form. In fact she's gross. Even her friends and herself despised what she had become. I could feel the hatred coming out from her. Her skin looked like a tree bark and her hair seems to be sprouting rounded like fruits. The hair in her arms looked like grasses. There were different colors and details in the fruits themselves as if she's like a mixture of different tress, yet the fruits looked weird and something I'll regret if I ate one, and I get a feeling it might be considered as cannibalism for eating something that was from parts of her body. I can't tell if the fruits are part of her or it could be something else. Some of the fruits were literally floating like balloons.

I had to convince them, 'I was sent here by-' Should I say Officer Doug or Inspector Doug? Thinking clearly in this is not getting easier with all these tensions that had been happening to me. I was still wondering where the Reverse-Flash went to. The officers should know about the inspector of their department unless some of them came from a different branch. But some of them had got to know a lot about Officer Doug and why he liked being called an officer instead of inspector. What if I made a mistake of mistaking someone's rank which gives them a reason not to trust me. It had to go either way.

Before I could try to say anything, an officer fired few warning shots at me. The gun was just as loud as thunder which could make anyone deaf. He said to me, 'Put your hands up and come forth. Your only rights is to be silent. You will not do anything else or else we will fire at you.'

Olivia is dying. Is there even time to convince the police? But they seen my face, they'll know who I am, and I'll get arrested if I made it through this. Failing to comply to an officer is a penalty. With no one I could get help me, the only one who can save Olivia is me. I just need was to think about saving her and not failing. If I failed, she dies, and I don't to fail. Focus. . . Concentrate. . . I am the master of my own speed. . . I am the driver to this automobile. . . Unfortunately. . . The vibration came back. . . And the officers became hesitant. . . There would be no saving for us if I did nothing. . . And so I felt the rush flowing through my body again. . . All my senses and instinct awakened for this moment. . . The bullets were fired and they are coming straight at me, ready to kill me. But I'm ready as well. With the speed, I could become the speeding light itself. I evaded the bullets and got Olivia from harms' way under a second. The police were looking incredulously. Before the police could make any further reaction what they saw, I was already in front of them and I have their guns taken away.

Maybe this time I could to convince them, 'I was sent by Officer Doug.'

The fruit lady doesn't want any conversation. She was prepared to fight even without guns. But her skills cannot help her from my speed. A friend of hers tries to help out, he was releasing a steam of air from his mouth that fires like a water hose. I felt the heat even though it haven't touch me. I was going to go after him until I noticed he passed out just releasing steam. 'I have friend who's dying right now. I don't care if you don't trust me. There's a doctor in there who can save her.'

The officers were looking at me suspiciously. Why would I bring an injured person to the place that caused all this instead of a hospital? I guess I don't have much choice left. 'Don't try disrespect orders from Officer Doug. He sent me here to aid you to take back Star Labs. You're going to get a penalty for not letting me hear myself out and going against Officer Doug's order.'

A tanned skin officer who dyed his hair blue began talking, 'Fine. We'll let you help. Give our weapons back quickly.'

I was going to make a run, but then I heard a gun was fired. It wasn't from the officers, it was coming from a gap at the entrance of Star Labs. There was a group of people aiming their guns at us, like a firing squad. The moment was perfect for them to attack. If I had known they was a gap, I might've been prepared to dodge it. But where did the gap came from. Am I assuming that there wasn't a gap or did I missed it? Could've been my imagination but I knew from my memory there wasn't one. Something is not right.

However, in spite of my speed, some of the bullets had left scratches on my body, none of them were able to penetrate through, yet it was painful like getting hit a a strong gust of wind. My skin was burning from my injuries. Luckily, I was able to run fast enough to get the officers guns back.

I thought they were going to shoot me, but surprisingly they didn't. They must've been waiting for the moment if I actually tried to use them for my own gain. Well, maybe they'll do it at the end once we got Star Labs back. Because they can't take it back without my help.

The fruit lady was leaning by the guy with a steamy breathe. 'Can anyone tell me which of the fruit has the most water in it?' An officer responded, 'The one that looks like a red coconut.' The officer had plucked the red fruit from her hair and given the fruit. She fed the tired officer with the fruit as he struggled to eat as if he's dehydrated. 'This should take about minutes for his body to process.'

I was lying down among them. Even though I got some injuries, I felt its starting to disappear for every second. I got to talk to one of them. 'How are we going to get in?'

'We were planning to detonate the whole thing until you showed up. The bomb squad were absent and those people behind that door knows what we're doing. Getting near that thing won't be easy. And they have hostages in there. We don't want to risk people's lives. But with your help, we could come up with something. Our plan so far was to shoot the cars until it hit the gasolines. Bad news is that the cars were melded so well, it would take hundreds of bullets to blow the thing up. By then, we would be defenseless against them.'

I was thinking for the moment. I felt like I forgot something. . . Olivia! She's still outside the store. There better be time to save her. All this talking and thinking just makes her die sooner rather than delay it. So much desperation rise up in me. It really gets tiring of people getting in my way when there's someone dying. The officers were suppose to protect people, and they are keeping me from saving my friend. Yet again, she might be more different than I remembered. I don't even know if she committed a terrible crime. But how would I know if I let her die? Whether she's a friend who's missed me so much or someone who's trying to control me, that doesn't make it justified just to let someone die from bleeding.

So I ran up to her regardless of the field of bullets passing by. Both sides from the people and the police using their guns that fired like fireworks. Deep inside, I didn't want to experience getting shot again or getting myself nearly killed again after what just happened very recently. I was feeling a bit scared running through the bullets. It was like running through a field of land mines and a wrong step or a turn can get me killed. Though it felt like minutes, it took about few seconds to get Olivia from danger zone. I had her dropped off to the officers and told them to take care of her. Before I could run off from them, the fruit lady called out. An officer ready to pluck the fruit from her hair, it was like an orange but with spikes. The fruit lady said to me, 'Wait! Take this first. As soon it's plucked out, run as fast as you can and throw it at their covers.' I was going to question it, but my instinct told me to do it anyway. I ran lightning speed again to the barricaded cars. For a moment, I noticed something. . . The bad guys stopped shooting. What's their plan this time? I felt the tension rising up in the fruit, it was glowing brighter and brighter. At the right moment, it exploded when I got the fruit at the door and moved out before it exploded. With the gas fuels in the cars getting affected, the explosion was big as if a giant cannon was fired.

There is now a giant hole at the entrance. The walls and the gates has fallen, and now the troops can march forth. I got in. . . There's already a fight inside. . . But the fight was passed halfway. . . The Reverse-Flash was fighting everyone by himself. . . How did he get in? There was no other way he could. . . I was told that all entrance had been shut down and barricaded. Is this what he was doing all this time? Was he trying to give us time? How long did the fight took? He was fight, so how long did it took him to get here? Those people were shooting at us, as if they didn't know someone already breached it?

I was going to run to the Reverse-Flash to questioned him what he had done. Many of these people are either dead or unconscious. Why would he do something terrible to these people? Yet at the same time, what can he do against people with guns and weird fabilities? A figure came out, it was the cow-man or probably a Minotaur came out of nowhere. I thought the Reverse-Flash wouldn't have any chances against something strong and big. But he killed it. Both of his arms went through the thing's body like sharp spears. It then immediately died.

I looked around to see any further damages. Another figure came out from a wall. It was weird how it happened; at first the wall was just a plain wall without something special, then something came out as if it had merged itself with the wall, becoming part of the wall. It was liquid looking which might have explain how it was able to hide. It acted like an extra thin layer. I got a feeling it would be best to not get so close to it, more like him. Even the gun he was holding got affected when he transformed to a human form. What I can do was throw something at him, like books or chairs. I just need to not add too-. . . .

Someone just grabbed my leg. A woman was lying on the floor and she was doing something. I had to make her let go, or else if I run, she might get hurt. I struggled to have her let go. She was able to have me fall down to the ground as if I tripped into something. At least she stopped grabbing my leg, I was going to need it everyday. I tried to get up, but I couldn't, as if my leg was glued tightly to the floor. Whenever I attempt to pull my leg out, my leg felt like its skin was being peeled off. I'm stuck!

The guy from the wall was going to shoot me, but the Reverse-Flash ran into him on time and thrown him into the wall. The woman was then beaten by him until she felt like sleeping. He went over to me, 'Pull your leg out. Now!'

'I can't! It's stuck.'

'Do it or your friend dies!' I looked outside. The officers were on their way to Star Labs. They must've left her. Just gotta hope she's okay and there's still time left.

'Leave me! Get the doctor already. Save her instead.'

'Just pull your leg out.'

He's not leaving. There's nothing left for me to do then. So pulled it out from the ground. . . I did it quick. . . The pain was sharp and my leg was stiff and broken at the same time. It was like gluing a paper on a paper tightly. Separate them, pieces of the paper would leave itself from the other. Separating them was the perfect description. I could've move my leg for the moment. The Reverse-Flash injected me with serums that, for some reason made my leg feel better. In fact, I looked like it healed itself. But the process was not an instant. I had to suffer first before I can be relieved from it.

The Reverse-Flash continued, 'Here, wear this.' It was a white plain suit. A body suit. Why is he giving me this?

He went on, 'This would in the least, stabilize the vibration in your body until you get used to it. And you need it to hide your face. There's enough number of people who knows what you're capable of. Imagine the number of plotters thinking to ruin your daily life. Think how you will sleep once they know your address and your life. You'll soon regret living.'

Something doesn't seem right. How can there be a suit just made for me? In fact when was it even made? This complete stranger wants me to wear this. It could have some kind of a trap. Probably something to kill me. Or worsen turn me into his slave.

I was going to make a respond, but he interrupted me, 'If nothing bad happened to you when you wear it, you can trust me. Once you wear this suit, you'll feel grateful, and you'll have a peaceful sleep without anyone sneaking to your room with a knife in his hand. I seen your face. Imagine what I could do to your life. I could've chosen to haunt you. Perhaps blackmail. From this moment onward, you have an ally. But you still have the right and deserve the right to not trust me yet. And I will respect that. There is a woman in the main room of Star Labs. She is still upset over the death of her fiancé. If you convinced her, she will save your friend's life.'

Then he vanished in a flash. I get a feeling he's a type you would become your greatest friend if you didn't get into his bad and the greatest enemy if you upset him. It was strange how he just vanished and given me a weird suit that I'm not even sure if I should wear it or not. I looked over on the suit. I wondered about one thing: will it fit?


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes from Protarn: If you read all the previous in under an hour or skip chapters, you might not be paying any attention what you're reading. I consider that as a crime that deserved to be cursed. But if you read all of the chapters in a proper order, here's my blessing of good luck for a day. You need another good luck? Read the whole thing again, tell people I exist, and reviewing the story, not purely compliment it. Here's also another good luck, for supporting me. Don't forget to credit my friend Nick and those who support this story.**

 **What just happened earlier: good guy didn't get beat up, kidnapped, or knocked down by the end of the chapter this time. Hurray for progress. He still got hurt though. And he now have a mysterious ally/enemy who calls himself the Reverse-Flash. He met some police officers and helped them out to take back Star Labs from a group of angry people. Now he must find that doctor who can save Olivia's life. . .**

I debated with myself whether or not I should wear the suit. The guy nearly killed me earlier. He could've saved my life and probably prevent anything from getting worse. He acts as if he knows what he's doing. The guy can run fast, fast enough to stop this in hours. Yet he technically saved me. He was right about one thing: he knows my face and he what I can do. Anytime he could show up at my room and murder me. Worse, plan to use me for something sinister. Or there was some misunderstanding. I don't got enough evidence aside from fighting him that proved he was the bad guy or the good guy. This suit might have a device that makes me go crazy, unless it actually helps me maintain my powers, even hide my face from everyone. He was right again. How many bad guys would show up in my room at night after seeing my face. I honestly could've just wear a hood or something else other than this. All I need is a mask to hide my face from everyone. I get to run around to find a shirt and have it covered my head like mask. For now, I'll consider not wearing it the suit, until I know I'm sure.

I took a quick run to find the hostages. I was told they would be in the main room, should I say, a room with a bunch of computers and screens to look at. I honestly didn't feel comfortable running after experiencing what I did to my leg. There should've been a trail of blood, but there isn't as if it was healed. But the thought got stuck to my head like the stickiest glue in the world. I just keep on touching my leg to remind myself I'm okay. At least this is almost over. Once reinforcements arrived, maybe I can sleep for hours or do something. My body was feeling healed up. Yet, at the same time, I feel like giving up. Being a superhero was never easy. Who said it should be easy? The experience was basically just a sample what's going to happen next if I continue. Even the feeling of rush that makes me feel alive and strong can't do much help to stabilize my mind. My greatest advice so far was to clear my mind at all time no matter the cause. Unfortunately, the bad thoughts always find a way to reach me. What's with the world liking to drag me into the worst situation that's gives me the reason to hate it?

The run only lasted in seconds just when I found them. They look like the employees of this place all right. I soon realized something, he didn't tell me what his name. Didn't he told me the doctor was a she or something? Well, in the bright side, I can have the numbers shrink down making it easier which one. But what am I suppose to tell them? My friend is dying and she needs your help. Look at them, they don't look so well. Those people must've had them imprisoned like this for hours. One of them took a glimpse at me and he was terrified. They think I'm one of them. On the other hand, those people could also have powers like I do. That doesn't change the fact why they shoudln't be afraid of me. I told them I'm not here to hurt them and the police has already arrived to help. More of them hopefully would come, if they changed their mind not to use the helicopters to travel. It must be gone by now; the police aviation. The police are not going to be happy about it. I already made a choice, Olivia's life has to be saved.

The officers and I had the ropes cut off and let them sit for a while until they felt relieved. I was told to gather the surviving bad guys and had them tied up and locked up in the lobby, but they had to be constantly checked because of their abilities may have the power to break free. The ones who died, they told me to hide them somewhere in any room where no civilian won't see it. Apparently, there's no need to do a crime investigation at a time like this. I do feel redeemed helping the police out, yet I haven't told them what I was suppose to do. The timing would feel wrong and I'll lose their trust.

In spite of the feeling of accomplishment, I saw one of the baddies awake, she was angry and blaming the police for not helping them do what's right: get rid of Star Labs and put an end to everything. Somewhere in my mind, I know she's right. The suffering that happened was all because of this building and the people involved. My rational mind told me: do any of the employees of Star Labs want this to happen? I don't think anyone would want this to happen. It's too out of control for someone to control. Why would anyone would want this city to be left in chaos? The FBI might consider nuking this entire city if they find out what happened. In fact what's the government had been up to? Should the military be here by now? I got a feeling we're going to live under martial law. Nah. Something's definitely not right. . . What going on in the rest of the world? This gotta be in the news by now.

Luckily, the officers were able to talk some sense back to the employees. The fruit lady had them eaten some kind of fruit that seemed to release stress out. I wished I could ask her to give me a fruit that helps me forget getting nearly killed. The leg part is still stuck in my mind. However, she doesn't know which fruit can help me forget. She'd been experimenting but she doesn't want to risk that pulling one of the fruits could risk her life. I basically had to bear with this thought. While the officers were comforting the employees, I had to spent some alone time in a room. I considered it as a reward after what I'd been through. After going through that mess, seeing more dead bodies, I had to take some deep breathes and think something happy. It's something what I've been doing whenever I'm stressed out. Just stare at a black wall and don't think about anything else. Look at the emptiness and let it reflect on my mind. The effort only worked a little. I'm rushing it. It was the officer's fault for making me go alone. But at least it's over, for now. . . It's a matter of time before something happens. . . Something worse. . .

The officers then asked if there is something who could save someone injured. I carried Olivia to let them see how much help she needs. An officer was able to get something out from one of the employees. He said the name of the employee, Caitlyn Snow, but she wasn't feeling mentally well. Her fiancé died hours ago. The fruit lady offered her a stress-relief fruit, but she refused. She didn't bother say anything. She was looking numb and hollow inside. I guess there's two people who got to be saved. But one would die soon and only the other can save her. Olivia was looking pale and cold. She's dying. She needs blood transfusion, but it has to be done the right way. Caitlyn could save her the right way.

I'm not really so sure what to do convince her. The police tried their best. They really did. Still, it doen't hurt to try. I was crying a little. I had come this close just to fail again. 'Please. I don't really know you. You don't know me. I don't think I'll understand losing someone very close. But this-'

'Leave me. . .'

What can I do. . ? 'This is my friend. She really needs your help.'

'Your friend. . . Is dead. . .'

I know deep inside that Olivia is not dead. I know she's not. Thinking about her now, I am starting to remember of my childhood with her. It was great memories. I may not know what she done after all these years, but I get a feeling she's tough, seeing her fight made me believed that there is a chance for her. I can still hear her heartbeats. Or am I imagining things? But there's a chance. How can I know if she's actually dead if she didn't get a blood transfusion. She'll need some more treatments for her to live. This thought is making me lose focus. I feel the vibration rising up in me. I didn't know I was already starting a minor earthquake, everyone was looking at me terrified. I got into focus over my powers again.

An officer began to talk. It was the guy with a blue hair. In spite of his sturdy body that made me think he's muscles over words, he said something that could persuade Caitlyn. 'I think we found him.' He said to Caitlyn.

'What do you mean. . ?'

'Your fiancé. . . He's alive. . .'

'Then show me. I want to see he's okay. Let me hear his voice.'

'We'll bring him if we saved our patient. Your patient.'

'Do I look like a doctor? I only study bioengineering.'

'You look like someone who could save lives.'

'He's dead. The explosion should've killed him.'

'Or he survived.'

'How?! HOW!?'

'No idea. I'm only a police officer.'

'Let me see Ronnie. I'll do what you want. Just let me see his face. I want to know he's alive.'

'We want you to save her first. I don't think Ronnie is going to like you for letting someone die. She's a good and loyal friend to our friend here.' He was apparently talking about me. 'She's dying. She lost a lot of blood. We don't have much time.'

'I don't care! Don't you see she's dead! She's dead! There's no way for her to live.'

'Then give it a try. Ronnie would be proud that you tried. I don't think he'll want to see your face for being so selfish.'

'How am I selfish?'

'Do you want to see him or not?'

Caitlyn responded with a nod.

I carried Olivia to the medical room. Caitlyn gave everyone a task to do analysis on Olivia's blood type. The process was confusing, not even engineering experiences can help me with these medical equipment. It was too much concentration. I got a feeling I'm going to shake. So Caitlyn told me gather all the blood packs. They were all contained in mini fridges, all organized and placed properly based on blood-types. What she mean by bring all the blood packs, it probably meant carrying all these heavy fridges in spite of their size. The storage room for blood packs was freezing. And knowing about metals, my hands would turn into ice. I had to run back and forth without screwing it up. It was tough running without touching my leg. I tried to remind myself that my leg was fine, the injury all healed up. Trying was not the same as accomplishing.

At the same time, I had to go back and forth to inspect on the mobs, they could wake up anytime soon. Some officers are keeping an eye on them, but they'll need a super-powered guy like me. I got a feeling from one of the officers that it'll be easier to have them killed. It was the officer with the blue hair who stopped them. In spite of our numbers, we were divided into groups of three: one group to guard the outside 0f Star Labs, the other was to scout around the building, and the last was to guard the prisoners and the freed hostages. I asked the name of the blue haired guy, he said I could call him, Officer River. He gave me the task of all three, more like above three, keeping everyone updated with the phones being down. He noticed I was running around without a gun, he offered me one but I refused. The guy was not happy with the response, but he strangely winded up respecting with my decision.

The procedure took some time. Waiting felt like forever. I ran around to keep myself occupied. Nothing happened for a while. There was a time when I looked outside at the city. The place was just as messy as ever. By now, the fire, the explosion, the screaming, and the crying should be over by now. It was quiet. But the quietness is what made things the more terrifying; I don't know the next moment when someone decided to scream or cry. It's like waiting for the moment for a gun to be fired, because once it's fired, it'll be loud and instant. I was considering leaving Star Labs to check over the city. Will it be worth the risk? Fighting alone is what got me injured. The officers want to secure this place as much as possible knowing its importance. I do feel guilty for doing nothing, just letting bad things happen. No matter how fast I run, there are things out there finding a way to kill me. So it must be best to be closed to people I could trust, to people who can watch over my back. I need people who can raise me up when I'm down, so I can keep on fighting on. It's like the time when I first got to the orphanage or getting adopted or moving forward in life, there are people out there lending me their hand whenever I'm down. Am I technically lending the city my hand when it's down right now?

I met Officer River again in the halls. He was suspicious about something. 'Do you know Harrison Wells?'

'Yep.'

'Give up what you're doing. He's you're priority right now. We can't find him anywhere.' He looked at me carefully, I was wearing a mask. But he seems to gave up what he was gonna to say.

'By the way. Is it true? That you found Ronnie. I don't think I see him anywhere.'

'It was the only way to save your friend. I'm only doing you a favor for helping us.' I can't really believe we had to lie to her just to save Olivia. I'm going to hate myself for it.

Harrison Wells, the guy responsible for all of this. I got a feeling I'm not going to be smiling once I found him. Those mobs could've done something terrible to him. One of them could've an ability to incinerate him or teleport him to outer space. He's probably tortured throughout the night. I don't think I saw him among the hostages. Since the officers haven't found him yet, it's my turn to look for every gaps and little rooms to find him. I have no idea what I'm going to do him. He was the reason why I went through this hell. So many people suffered because of him. Honestly, I really want to beat him until he can't open his eyes anymore. Break his bones until he can't move anymore. Revenge is what came to my mind. Will bringing him to prison be enough as a punishment? Reverse told me about Star Labs refusing to listen about something. The problems is starting to feel like a set up. Something is just not right. Yet, what if Harrison Wells was innocent? I beat him up for nothing. My foster dad is not going to be happy, just punching someone innocent. The only way to get the truth is get the truth from him. I had to find him as fast as possible.

It took me a while to find him. The place was surprisingly big, I had to check on the map back and forth. This place was built around the Particles Accelerator, it's the building's main purpose, as if it was made to cause all this. How can someone can took him over ten years just to screw things up? And I actually waited to see it activated. It was a mistake to be excited. I got to avoid seeing the explosion myself because of a fire I started in my home, but the explosion still found ways to change me. I honestly thought getting powers is my chance to do something big, but I didn't know there was be a price.

It was like the time when I got adopted. I left my closest friend in the orphanage in exchange to be raised by a wealthy guy, and he chose me and my sister out of all kids who are still waiting to be adopted. It takes a lot of luck to be adopted by a rich guy. I never thought I would not see her for many years. And for years, I thought she moved on, but in reality, she risked her life to find me. Maybe the reason why I risked myself for Olivia was because of the guilt, for being a bad friend, for leaving her in the orphanage jus to live in a fancy life. I'll just talk to her once she wakes up. Whenever I talked to her, she sound worried and scared, as if it's going to be the last time I'll see her. I guess it'll be the perfect to clear things up with her.

After running through so many hallways with little progress so far, I decided to look for him within the structure of the Particles Accelerator. The only problem: I don't know the codes for the door. One of the employees volunteered, he was quiet, as if he was guilty about something. He looks down as his long hair covered his face. The process was longer than what I expected. I studied him while I scratched my leg, I'm still haunted about earlier. I noticed something, for every numbers or codes he entered, he kept on resetting while he kept on typing in a rush, as if he was stressed about something. Until suddenly he got the codes done. He then leaned himself by wall, as if he wanted to be alone for now. I guess it'll be best not to talk until he's ready.

In spite of the building being the source of the explosion, the door was surprisingly functional as if it was made to endure the explosion. I checked on the map, the whole area was like a huge ring. This could be the last place where Harrison Wells could be kept. And maybe also the last group of angry mobs.

I saw little figures in a far distance. There's one guy on the floor, while the other was standing with something in his hand. It's a gun! I ran at top speed. I have to know the truth! If Harrison dies, the truth dies with him. But the gun was already readied to be fired. Yet, suddenly, the gun was not aimed at Wells, it was aimed at himself. The guy is going to commit suicide! I tried to move my legs as fast as possible, but I winded up losing some control over my speed. At some point, I nearly tripped myself to the ground, the speed was too great for me to handle. But I can't let this guy die. Unfortunately, by the time I reached him, the gun was already fired. The guy's dead. I failed to save him. Why did I failed? If only I was there sooner, I could've prevented it. However, what's done is done. That doesn't change fact of the guilt building up in me. I was losing focus on my powers. The quake was going to come back, until I realized that everything was shaking around me. I had to keep control over my powers. I might endanger more people.

At least Harrison Wells was okay. He was unconscious for a moment, but he was awaken by the minor earthquake. Normally, I would feel nervous to see someone famous. This guy is Harrison Wells, a brilliant scientist who has the capability to change the world. Well, he did change the world, for the worst. Instead of feeling nervous and my fanboy persona taking over, I was angry. There's no witnesses around. Only me and Wells. This is my chance to break him, after all he had done. A lot of horrible things happened because of him. Though at the same time, I wanted to hear the truth, I need him alive and well. But I can't hear the reasonable side in me. As if I'm taking my anger out in Harrison Wells, having someone else to blame, like a soldier blaming a king for ordering him to burn down a village. So, I grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed his back on the wall. I honestly want to punch him, beat him half to death. But something is holding me back. Was is guilt? What's up with me feeling guilty? It's the only thing that's holding me back. I want to do it, yet at the same time, I know it's wrong. Was I afraid of the consequence what the police will do to me if I beat him? Or am I just too soft? After what I'd been through, getting myself nearly killed, I should've become cold and rough. But there was something that didn't die in me, and it's preventing my fist from landing on his face. I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I'm basically stuck like this. The longer I stayed like this, the more awkward it's starting to feel. I feel like I'm going to make some regrets. Because there was so much going on in my mind, I decided to let Wells go. It's not my way. It's not how I was raised. Wells was looking shocked and he didn't say anything, probably he thought I'll kill him if ever says anything. But I'm regretting what I just did. He's going to say it to the police what I did to him, how I threatened him.

He finally said something after some moment of silence, 'I can't blame you. All that happened, it was because of me. I promise I won't tell anyone. You probably lost some friends or family because of me. I like to say, I'm sorry what I did.'

'Just tell me one thing. Did you intend for this to happen?'

'. . . . . I thought it was going well. I was too arrogant. All I want is to change-'

'Did you want this to happen? Yes or no. I want the truth.'

'Yes.'

'That's all I want to know. That's all. Thank you for being honest. I'll keep this between us.'

'That man.' Pointing at the dead guy, 'He had lost all hope. He'd rather die than become a killer. He has no reason to live anymore. I'm the one who took it away. People like him really don't deserve to die like that.'

'I don't really want to hear anything else from you.'

'. . . .'

I brought him over to Officer River who was standing by the medical room. I didn't tell him anything nor did Wells did. We both kept our deal. Officer River told me the operation for Olivia was done. Olivia is alive and well. All she needs is some rest. I made my way to the medical room. There was a woman suddenly screaming while she cried at the same time. It was Caitlyn Snow. She already found out the truth that Ronnie was gone. We used her through lies to save someone's life. I actually let someone's hope to get broken. Seeing her lean over by a corner as she cried loudly, it's making me very guilty, I feel like the bad guy here. Earlier I was searching for the truth while doing the right thing, and I just broke someone's heart over someone I haven't seen for years, but I just got to look at the bright side, Olivia is alive and well. I can't say whether it's worth it or not. Even Mr. Leg would think it's wrong.

'Are you happy now?' I heard Caitlyn. She was talking to me. 'She should've been dead. She was suppose to be dead many minutes ago. A miracle just saved her. Where's my miracle? I don't deserve this. Ronnie didn't deserve it.'

I didn't even bother say anything. I might made things worse by just talking to her. She needs space. Lots of it, until she's ready to listen. I can't blame her. She worked hard just to get a chance to meet her lover again. I got a feeling she knew it would be a lie, but she took the chance even if the chance was very microscopic. Even if things seemed impossible she did it anyway. A police officer chose to do me a favor over the truth. He probably rather have someone dead inside than having someone actually dead. I waited for minutes until Olivia wakes up. For every few minutes, I would run around to inspect around the building and sending messages from one officer to another. But while I wait for Olivia to wake up, all I hear was tears. I wish I would've done something. Instead, I just listened to it, as if I wanted the sadness to drown my guilt.

It took about twenty minutes later before I heard something. It was a roar. Could it be? I made my way to the entrance. I saw a small group of people approaching us with a van being pulled like a wagon. There was something big and furry pulling the van. It was Carlos and the other officers! Why did they show up at this moment? Did something happened while I was gone? I made my way to the reinforcements. some of the officers guarding this area was already ahead to make some reports to the familiar officer, or should I say, inspector.

He began talking to me as soon as I got close. 'Oh. Good. You seem to have control over your powers. Very good. Now get in the building quick. We have to bring the prisoners in as quick as possible.'

I was surprised. They brought the prisoners with them, more like super-powered prisoners. An officer told me that the rest had been left at the station. That explains why there weren't so many officers being brought in. The others were too busy either defending the station or patrolling around the city.

After making our way inside the building, Officer Doug told me and some selected others to meet him at the cafeteria. This must be the part where I'll get a penalty. He must've realized the helicopters are not going to be arriving soon.

I took a normal walk as we walk our way to the cafeteria. I can finally get to talk with Carlos. The idea of Officer Doug letting Carlos travel with him just seems off character for Officer Doug. Carlos is an aggressive type and I don't think he'll listen to the police.

'Hey Carlos. How are things going?'

'I was injected by several needles for the past few hours while you were gone. Each time I wake up, I feel the sharp pain of needles so I could go to sleep and not feel anything. I'm going to remember that.'

'I'm really sorry Carlos. There was so much going on.'

'Don't bother apologize. I'm only your pet. It's not like I have rights. As long there's a tiger in me, an animal, I'll never be seen human. I'll always be treated like a prey among you.'

'Once this is over, I'll find a way to make you feel belong.'

'There is no place for me. I'll be hated by tigers for being a human. I'll be hated by humans for being a tiger.'

'Why did Officer Doug let you tag along?'

'Because I'm not an officer.'

'. . . . Better than not getting tagged along.'

He glared at me for a short while, not looking happy what I just said, but he didn't bother try to argue about it. 'It was the least nicest thing he'd ever done. Better than being injected. You don realize he's listening? He's just ahead of us, but that doesn't mean he has bad hearings.'

'Aren't you worried?'

'Not really. Having two brains was enough punishment for me. He just seem to suddenly realized I could finally be useful. Honestly, he was hesitant and his men and also women were ready to shoot at me. For a strange reason, he just decided to go against his old orders and make a risk. He's quite a mystery. I thought he would constantly complain and act throughout the journey. He was surprisingly decent and reliant. It was a bit ironic that he was the main reason why I was alive. Everyone else were too terrified of me. I was feeling angry and threatened but at the same time, I kinda understand them. The curse of having two brains of two different species. I was going to fight back and be free. But he let an officer tag along who has needles on her fingers. She was the reason why I'm kept under constant control.'

'That explains why you look a bit calm. I didn't know she's with you. She was sleeeping the last time I saw her.'

'That's just my human brain talking. I don't feel as confuse as the usual. But I still got the strength to fend off anyone who tried to threaten us. That's probably why he had me along. He knows that people would be too terrified to even confront me. So how are you doing?'

'Just fine.' I began to realize I was scratching my leg on instinct. ' I met an old friend. Got through some fights. It was intense. More intense than the first time when I fought you.'

'Good times. It was only like yesterday when you electrocuted me, because I tried to tear you apart.'

'At least we're friends now.'

'More like master and pet.'

'No. Just friends. Even if you're part tiger, you're still human which means you still got human rights.'

'I guess that's what mattered: being human. Even though I feel like a tiger at the same time. I do know one thing about my tiger brain: I'm feeling glad I'm part human because I can finally understand what these people were saying all this time. They had been talking like aliens to me.'

We talked for a while until we reached the cafeteria. Everyone sat by the tables. Officer Doug was going to make a discussion to everyone. But apparently, he's going to talk to me in front of everyone.

'Although you succeeded at taking Star Labs, you failed to take back the police aviation. It's going to cost the city a lot for losing that amount of helicopter. Those criminals would use the helicopters against us. Do you have nay idea what you'd done? I thought you were killed.'

'I'm really sorry-'

'Don't say anything. The city is going to suffer more damages because of you. But to be honest, it was my fault for sending you. I thought you can really handled it. I had faith in you and you failed me. You were given a gift for a reason. There's so much officers I had to assign everywhere around the city. Please tell me, why did you neglect your order? You were suppose to be with us. The police aviation should've been freed from enemy control. We could've helicopters flying around the city since the roads are useless. It should've been quick but it winded up taking hours.'

'Just circumstance.'

'What circumstances?'

'I got attacked. I met an old friend. The fight was difficult.'

'Did you use the gun gave you?'

'No.'

'That explains-'

'I nearly killed my friend because of you. I shot my own friend. You let a complete stranger who doesn't know how to handle gun just use a gun without any problem. She was my friend. I haven't seen her for years. My dad. My foster dad. He hated guns for that reason. People die quickly. She could've been dead. And I nearly died because of you. You sent me all alone where I don't have control over my powers. My friend Olivia was there for me. While you let me go alone. I'm not even a police officer. And you didn't let a single officer to keep an eye on me. You guys were suppose to protect people. Look what happened, me and Olivia were badly hurt. I nearly got myself killed thanks to you. I was lucky to be alive, but maybe next I won't. As for Olivia, she's fine. She finally got an operation. As a consequence, we had to lie to a broken woman just to have Olivia operated.'

Everything fell silent for a moment. Nobody send a word. People were either staring at me or at Officer Doug. A few just looked on Carlos. It was another one of those moment when I hated silence the most. I didn't expect something like this would happen so soon. Officer Doug finally broke the silence.

'I'm sorry all those horrible things happened to you. You deserve a break. There'll be no penalty. We'll just do our jobs as policemen: to serve and protect the people. I'll let you know when you can go active again. Your break won't be short. Just realize. You may leave now while I discuss with everyone. Carlos included. I decided to have him paired with Officer Sky for now on, until changes was made.'

I finally get to stand for myself, and I get a time to relax for a moment. It's good to have all my thoughts altogether rather than fall apart. I was thinking what I should spend my time in. After all that stress, it paid off. I came to conclusion to wait for Olivia to wake up. She deserve it after what she'd done for me. It may not seem much, but I was glad I didn't feel alone in the mission. She was pretty much my motivation to keep going. If she didn't show up, things would've been different. So, I'm just going to wait. Sit by a chair and wait. Once she wakes up, maybe we can finally talk about past, what we'd been through after years being separated. She really deserve it. To me, it's heroic for her. I remember the time when I shot her, she blamed herself instead of me. It's going to feel nice to see her eyes open again and hear her voice, so I know she's truly alive, and my hope didn't break. . .


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes from Protarn: Congratulation, you're now reading chapter nine. You either made it this far or you're one of those guys who skip chapters. No good luck for those who skip. Those who skip would get lost on the steps and lose track where they travel. Give credit to my friend Nick for being the co-author in spite of the fact he was the one who made the idea of the Bolt. Those who support this story gets a good luck.**

 **Extra note: Can anyone please review this story. It gets really haunting without anyone criticizing me. By the way, sorry for the hiatus, I've been sick.**

 **Earlier: the main hero basically stayed in one building and some of the officers finally arrived as reinforcements. Now he's just waiting for his friend to wake up. . . And in this chapter we're going back in time. . . In a perspective that's not in our hero. . .**

This afternoon everyone was watching a marathon of Dexter's Laboratory, until a staff member made an announcement to everyone of two new arriving orphans. We were gathered in our playroom to be introduced. There was a boy and a girl, both siblings. The old staff member, Miss Luna began to talk about being nice and showing respect to them at all times. She told us their names were Nick and Elizabeth Parker. Everyone were looking at them, until Miss Luna had us introduce ourselves to them. I said hello and then told them I'm Olivia. They didn't say anything back to anyone, they spent of their time looking at their shoes, as if those were more important. Miss Luna continue to smile and act formal as if she wasn't affected by the kids' sadness. She and some of the staff members soon left Nick and Elizabeth with us. The two just sat by the floor and didn't bother do anything else. But before Miss Luna can leave the room, she gestured me to follow her.

'In spite of the troubles you had caused in the past, I will place a trust in you.' She said to me. 'Though you don't want to be adopted, I will instead reward you for a special dinner. I will give you the job to be friends with those two.' Glancing at the two new orphans.

'Why?'

'Because those kids need friends and you seem to share great care to other people.'

I wasn't so sure if I should accept it or not. There's something about them that creeps me out. Anytime they could scream out of nowhere and start choking me like in a horror movie. Yet I feel bad seeing them sad. I'll just accept it. Miss Luna is good with her treats.

'Okay.'

'Good.'

This shouldn't be too bad. I'll just have them watch Power Rangers. I have a VHS in the cabinet. They're going to love it. I wonder if they watch it. It'll be great to see their reaction. I honestly want to become one when I grow up. Being a superhero fighting bad guys. I just had to wait until it's my turn to have control over the T.V. Time like that is my favorite time of the day.

I made my way to the new arrivals after looking at them for minutes. They were still standing, still looking afraid and numb. Or they're just too shy to enjoy the life of freedom. I called them out. Some of my roommates were looking at me. Apparently they seem to got infected by the sadness disease. This chance would show I'm beyond brave. I said hello to the sister. She didn't bother look at me, nor say anything as if I didn't exist. I started poking her head, this should get her attention. No reaction. What kind of person she is? Is she even alive? Maybe if I poke her more it'll work.

It did work. She glared at me for a moment then jumped on top of me just to pull my hair. I tried to push her away but she has a strong grip on my hair. I was screaming from the pain she was causing. The feeling went on forever. An adult finally came to end the fight. I never felt so glad for an adult to show up. They usually give me goosebumps. But what was that crazy girl thinking? I was only trying to be a friend to her. If only she just said anything to me, this wouldn't happened. Now me and her were sent to the councilor's office. It was only under an hour since they arrive, and already one of them got in trouble. It's what happened if Miss Luna gave me responsibility.

Mr. Sky sat in his messy office with papers all over the place and trash bins overflowing with trash. There's a bunch of food and cups on his desk. As we both entered, he didn't look up at us nor even say anything. He's too busy being immersed from reading some papers and talking to someone on the phone. It sounds like he's talking about his niece. Why is he even the councilor, he doesn't care about us, all he wants is money? Miss Luna would bother notice me, unlike him. Me and the new girl had to seat for a while until he finished reading. Nobody said anything. The new girl was looking at her shoes as if she never attacked me. I got witnesses everywhere, everyone saw what she did to me. I'm actually excited. I was trying to be nice but she treated me unfairly.

Then he finally put them his papers and drank some coffee from one of his cups. As soon he said goodbye on the phone, he became surprised to see us in his office.

'When did you two get in here? Nah. That doesn't matter. Why are you two in here?'

Now it's my chance, 'She was pulling my head.'

'What did you do this time, Olivia?'

'What?'

'You probably did something that caused her to attack you.'

'But I didn't do anything.'

He began to sigh and rub his face. He muttered to himself, 'So that's what she's talking about. What did she say again? Oh right, the poking.' He went back looking at us, 'She was provoked because of you.'

'I wasn't trying to provoke her.

'I didn't do anything. I was trying to be nice with her.'

'How comes you were poking her?'

'She was ignoring me.'

'So you provoked her because you want her attention. Do you not realize that she's not in a mood?'

'What do you mean?'

'You really don''t know? Of course you don't know. She lost her parents.'

'So?'

'Her parents are dead. So please, be nice with her because she's heartbroken. She needs time to adjust. Especially her brother. For now, I suggest you give them space.'

'But-'

'I don't want to hear anymore excuses. All I want too hear is 'yes'. Do you understand?'

'. . . Yes. . .'

'Good.'

How unfair. He didn't even made her talk. She's probably excused all because she's new and she lost something. What does having parents makes anyone special? They take anyone away from my home. I already lost some of my friends because of them.

Before we could leave, Mr. Sky walked out of his seat to make an announcement to everyone, 'Don't forget everyone. Olivia is forbidden to watch T.V for the day. Anyone who caught her can get an extra dessert for dinner.'

'What!? That's not fair.'

'It is fair.'

'What about her?' I pointed at the new girl. I'm not the only one who should be punished.

'She already got enough punishment?'

'How?'

'We're not going to make anymore discussion.'

'But-'

'Like I said: no more discussions.'

He's making me feel embarrassed. Why does he have to say it so loud? I hate when adults do that, as if they could do whatever they want because they're adults, and they don't care how we feel. Now my roommates can humiliate me again, which is really annoying. It's all thanks to Miss Luna and her treatment of a special dinner. I'm thinking of eating a bunch of large fries, but I instead got in trouble. Something tells me that me and that new girl are going to be great enemies. And the new boy, probably his name was Nick, since they're both related, they're going to be the same and I'm not going to like him. So what am I suppose to do now. The T.V is the only thing I got now. Not even my friends can save me. I can't allow them to tell me what happened in the T.V. It'll be really upsetting just because I didn't get to see it myself. They're like spoilers and it ruins the experience. I really hate a feeling that everyone watches it ahead of me. I'm starting to imagine of everyone watching Dexter's Laboratory marathon. Old episodes coming back. It'll be over by nighttime. By then I had to wait. Time would had gone faster if they allowed me to take naps. At least I was still allowed to play with my power rangers action figures.

I played with it and had them fight several times but then it got really boring. Everyone else are watching T.V and none of them are in a mood to play in the playroom. It's more fun to do it with more people. Though the two are still here, still standing and had nothing better to do. Probably their parents neglected them and lied about their death. But after several minutes, everything felt silent. The two were still standing and it's making everything awkward. It's so hard to focus on the toys. I kept on glancing at them. I noticed that the boy was looking at me for a short while but immediately looked away from me. I don't know whether I should leave or stay. Things are starting to feel weird, and a bit creepy, more creepier than being alone and everything was quiet. Where was the staff who's suppose to keep an eye on us? I don't see him anywhere. For a while, I occupied myself by talking to myself and humming, yet it still felt the same. The two didn't bother make a respond. I don't even want to move or stand up. Honestly I wanted to be angry and just yell at them. Maybe it'll make things less weird. Although, I'll risk the fact of the new girl pulling my hair again, and her brother might do worse.

I couldn't take it anymore, I called out to them. Only the brother looked up at me. He was looking quiet and scared, and he didn't say anything. What am I suppose to say next? I might provoke them and I'll get into more trouble with Mr. Sky. This time it'll be no T.V for one week. Well, I already made it this far. I told the brother to come over, and he followed, though he didn't bother say anything. Now he stands over me and staring over his shoes. Not thinking through, I handed him one of my power ranger action figures. He was hesitant, all the same, he we was able to grab hold of it. I let him sit right next to me. I thought I made everything seem worse. If I made a single wrong move, he might attack me and do something worse. The action figure was precious to me and I regretted giving it to him. Miss Luna was strict about buying toys though she still buys us some, and some of my roommates would fight over the toys. I tried with all my best to protect them. They were the only ones who stayed with me when most of my friends got adopted. I asked him if he has ever heard of power rangers. For a short moment he was fiddling with my action figure, then he nodded without saying any words.

I looked over his sister, she was only staring at us. Eventually she joined in. I handed her the pink ranger. She was looking skeptical at me, but at least she doesn't look angry at me this time. I'm basically the only one talking in the group. Things still felt weird, they were like strangers to me just touching something I loved. Yet I went on with it so that I could avoid trouble. I didn't think what's going to happen next, of any chance of a consequence after just getting in trouble minutes ago. Right now, what mattered most was playing with the new kids, and it's starting to feel nice. Maybe they won't be my enemies after all.

*2 years later*

During those two years, I had a great time with those two. I started to call them Nick and Liz, which is short for Nicholas and Elizabeth. Nick later started to call me Kitten ever since I started to like cats more than ever. I was really glad they didn't got adopted like my other friends, they were the ones who stick by me. We did made a promise in the past that none of us would get ourselves adopted so we could be together forever. At times we argued and got into fights, yet in the end, things went well like how friendship went. This is the time I'm not going to forget. They're like best friends to me now. But I am getting a feeling I'm getting to close with Nick. There's something adorable about him being so shy and nice at the same time. It's so fun to tease him. And hopefully, nothing is going to tear us apart.

Over time they became more open to me, except for Nick, he's still shy as ever. Liz told me about their parents before they died and how much they missed them. Their parents died in a car accident. Me on the other hand, I surprised them, I told them my parents abandoned me at a one age, I never get to know them. Nick had a hard time actually believing that why would a parent abandon its own child. Hearing them talk so much about their parents made me a little jealous, I spend most of my life living here and being raised by the same staff members for years. They were the reason why I would imagine what my life would look like if I have parents. My life would probably be better.

We eventually got into classes where we learn about reading and counting. Nick was the best among three of us in both reading and counting. I kinda rivaled with Liz in reading but she beats me in counting. Learning was really boring. My friends were the only ones making things fun, and they help me keep on going.

This night, it's just the three of us watching Courage the Cowardly Dog. The show was very funny, yet at the same time,c could be horrifying like that episode of a cursed slab. We were waiting for the popcorn to cook up in the kitchen. A staff member named Leto was cooking the popcorn for us. I was really glad that Miss Luna allowed us to stay up at night in Saturday while everyone else goes to the movies.

'Hey Nick!'

'Yeah?'

'Is the popcorn ready yet?'

'Just wait for a sec. It'll be ready when Mr. Leto calls us.'

'But it's taking so long. Courage is already starting. I thought you were my friend, Nick. Why would you neglect me like that.'

'Wait a bit longer. It just has few minutes left.' Liz said.

'I'm suffering so much, Liz. Can't you see the pain I'm in. Ohhhh. The pain. So much pain going in my stomach.'

Nick tries to hand me over a piece of bread, 'Why not eat this?'

'You don't understand, Nick. Bread has no power over the pain. Only popcorn can save me. There is no saving in me when I'm not eating popcorn while watching Courage. And Miss Luna wouldn't allow any of us to eat chips. Not even oreos or cookies. She's such a villain who likes to torture us.'

'Enjoy the show already Olive.' Liz said, 'I can barely understand what's going on.'

'Okay fine, I'll wait. But next time, I won't help you out when you're hungry.'

'I can handle it anyway. Unlike you, I'm a tough girl.'

'Is that a challenge you're asking?'

'Just quiet down or I'll eat all of the popcorn.'

'You win this round, Liz.'

'Don't take the popcorn from her, sis.' Nick said in my defense.

'He's right, Liz. Everyone has to share their popcorn.'

'You do realize you usually eat most of it.' Liz said.

'That's mainly because Nick let me. And for that he deserves more hugs. So Nick. Would you like another hug, or something more?'

'What. . ?

Liz was starting to get annoyed. 'Don't tease Nick like that. You know you won't do that to him.'

'Or am I? You never know until it actually happens.' I began laughing while Nick was blushing and Liz went back to focus on the show.

The popcorn was finally ready. While Liz stayed on the couch, me and Nick ran our way to the kitchen. Mr. Leto had the popcorn readied in a bowl and had them buttered. He gave us three bottles of water in case we get thirsty. And we began to enjoy watching the show. Once for a while, we would often laugh and make fun of the show of how scared the dog, and he screams way too much. Then things started to become more fun. Out of nowhere, Liz threw popcorn at me. She was smiling, 'That's what you get for distracting me.' She started a popcorn war with me. The three of us went against each other, since Nick was looking confuse of whose side he should be. Later we got in trouble for causing a mess, instead of grounding us or putting us future chores to work on, he made us clean up the mess on the floor. If we cleaned it up in time before Miss Luna arrives, then we can continue to watch the T.V. Even cleaning was fun when it comes to friends, we all competed who can collect the most popcorn and throw it in the trash first.

*Six months later*

The three of us were told that Nick and Liz were chosen to be adopted by a rich guy. I was upset about the news. But we're not going to let this adoption let us tear us apart. We made a pact to stay and stand together. At five o'clock the rick guy is going to visit us. This should be the perfect opportunity to change his mind.

The best idea to make parents think that adopting was a horrible idea was to act like wild animals. Nobody likes to have wild animals in their homes. This is how I kept myself from getting adopted. So hours later, he finally arrived. I imagined differently; I thought he'll look fat and old. Instead, he's a cute looking. Very muscular and young. I keep on forgetting that I was staring at him. Then I remembered, I was suppose to convince him to dislike Nick and Liz. I had to keep our friendship together. Nick and Liz were looking nervous.

'Don't worry guys. I'm not going to let this guy take you away.'

'You sure?' Liz ask.

'That's what friends are for. We stick until the end. Just remember: do what I do. I don't think a rich guy like him would like animals in their homes.'

The rich guy walk towards Nick and Liz while everyone else were either watching T.V or doing other activities. Nick and Liz began to scream and ran around as they both throw stuffs all over the place. Unfortunately, the rich guy remained stoic and calm, as if he wasn't bothered. Miss Luna was looking disappointed and she is prepared to yell at them. That should be a good sign. It works all the time. Though it comes with a price, but it's better than being taken. The staff finally caught them and have them seated on the sit. Miss Luna began to apologize. Ironically, the guy didn't look angry nor disgusted. His eyes were inspecting all over the place, and when he began speaking, he was calm.

Miss Luna had the guy follow her to Mr. Sky's office to have a further discussion. Since I'm not in trouble, I spend my time staring at the door's office, waiting for the door to opened up. I could hear my heart beating and my stomach twisting itself. The plan should work. No parent would like to adopt rude children. When the door opened up, the rich guy was shaking hands Miss Luna's. She was smiling and I think there were tears in her eyes, as if she was happy about something. Did he accept to adopt them or not? Before he could leave, I heard something in the conversation, something about repairs and improving the place.

Later in the evening, Nick and Liz were call to Mr. Sky's office. About minutes later, they left the office with sad expression on their faces. 'So was it accepted?' I asked. Nick didn't respond. Liz only nodded. The news was shocking. Did she nodded as in yes? I asked again and again. All her answers were nods until she finally said yes to me. I didn't want to believe what she said. It has to be a dream or a lie. I asked if they refused. Liz said they didn't have a choice, they were offered a better life. Does that mean they accepted the adoption? Why would they accept it, we made a promise that nothing would go between us?

'I really want to say no.' Liz said, 'I don't know what to do. He sound like we don't have a choice. The things he said of how nice our lives would be. I'm sorry Olivia.'

'You should've said no. It's just easy It's only one word. One word. How can it be hard? Do you guys hate me?'

'What no.'

'I'm sorry, Kitten.' Nick said.

I can't believe what I'm hearing. They could've chosen to refuse. How could they be so selfish? 'We made a promise. And you guys broke it.'

'We're going to visit you everyday.' Liz said, 'We Promise.'

'It's not going to be the same.'

I ran away from those traitors. They really betrayed me after being together for years. Now I'm going to be alone here again. I'm losing friends again. Nick and Liz were the longest friends I ever had. I went to bed and skip dinner. Nobody bothered me at that time, not even Miss Luna.

Few days later, Nick and Liz were getting ready to leave. Their things were already packed. Some kind of an old butler waiting by the day. I stayed at the living room, I didn't want to see them, after what they had done to me. The friendship we had for years had been all a lie. I felt used and now they're going to live in a wealthy life. Of course they chose money over me. Who needs friendship when money can buy everything?

Then things finally became quiet. I stopped hearing their voices. I checked by the door to see the butler was gone. Are they really gone? I asked Miss Luna if they left. I thought she might start laughing or at least smile. She said to me in a sad voice, 'yes'. She left me standing by the door. For a while I stared at the door, processing what happened. I ask myself if they're gone. Then Miss Luna came back to me with a chocolate-chip cookie on her hand. As she gave it to me, she said, 'Don't worry. They'll come to visit you.'

My memory suddenly struck me. It was the last thing one of them said to me before they left, 'Goodbye, Kitten.'


	10. Chapter 10

Notes from Protarn: Good to be back readers, I will grant you good luck for reading this fanfic. If you skip to get into this chapter, no good luck for you. Anyway, give credit to my friend Nicholas, the creator of the character Bolt. And if anyone is tired reading this backstory, I guess you have to suffer one more chapter before we get to the real thing.

Earlier: We're still in a flashback of Olivia's past. She made friends with Nick and his sister when they were young in the orphanage, until they got adopted by a rich guy. And now Olivia is suffering from a loss in spite of the fact Nick and Olivia will visit her everyday. . .

 _A Kitten's Tears_

I never thought promises can break. It used to be some kind of joke or to stay away from trouble; that's what promises were like to me, until I actually met friends who really stayed. Unlike everyone else, they stayed with me for years. Until the day when they left. Eating at dinner or hanging out at night doesn't seem fun anymore. It all felt different now, everything just felt so quiet and depressing, no matter how loud everyone can get, nothing felt the same. For few days, they haven't visited me, as if I didn't exist, or they were my imagination for years and I was alone all this time.

Them being gone really did made a big difference in here. A bunch of people had been showing up lately, renovating everything and making things look messy. There were less cracks on the walls, the molds were removed, the air felt cleaner, the old windows were replaced, the beds looked comfortable now. Meals had been looking nice lately, it's not usual to look so good. More adults had been popping out, taking in more of our own. Only I refused, and I did no matter what it takes whether I have a choice or not, even if they try to take things away from me, not giving me dinner, I'll never let them steal my life. It's not the same anymore. Only I remain while this whole place change. Everyone start to dress up differently trying to look nice, Miss Luna is one of them, but I stayed with my old clothes. I don't want to forget, those were part of my life, part of what I'd been through.

I had enough what's going around here. So much of my life had been taken by this place, and it's the place where I sleep and wake up everyday. If things were to change, then I'll do the same, this place is not my home anymore. Everyone keeps telling me to move on and find a family, they don't understand how it feels to see something I know becomes so different, like something becoming a complete stranger to me. My first attempt was at night, just ran to the door and hope everyone's asleep. Some kind of a detector found me and it woke everyone up. I didn't know there was a detector, nobody told me about it, as if they know I'll try to escape and punish me, just keep me as their prisoner. I got several talks from Miss Luna, most of the time is her making me feel bad, which is something she never done before, because she often yells at me. So what can I do to get out now? I was constantly kept watch for weeks, every day and night. The only time I could get out was when everyone were allowed to take a walk in the park, but I forced to be in Miss Luna's side like she leashed me.

A chance finally sprung up. I thought it was a nightmare at first, only for me to be proven wrong when I hear something loud as if something exploded, but the explosion keeps on repeating and things did not actually exploded. Someone was shooting with a gun, and I never thought guns can be so loud and terrifying like it's what an earthquake would sound like if it has a voice. A strange man broke through the door, with a gun aimed at us. This can't be real. . . I feel like fainting. Then he fired his gun at the ceiling. The sound shocked my body from moving, the gun was like what would happen if a thunder decided to yell at my ears. The worse fact was the man was wearing a clown mask, as if he came out of a nightmare to haunt everyone. I was hoping he would be the only one, until more clown-masked men came in our room and drag us outside. I want to fight back and move, just like in the shows, yet my mind was blanked out.

Everyone around me were crying. We were helpless against them. Suddenly there was fire, spreading everywhere, consuming everything it sees. I couldn't breath from the smoke and it was getting so hot in here as if I'm living in an oven. Something caught my eyes, someone, Miss Luna was lying on the floor, wounded and bleeding, she looked cold and lifeless. I didn't expect her to end up like that nor do I want to. I want to scream for her to get up before the fire reaches for her. The man carrying me noticed what I was looking at. Even with a mask on, I could feel from the looks on his eyes that he was smiling. He made me watch. He began to beat Miss Luna, he kicked her like an animal going crazy. However, Miss Luna didn't move. Is she really dead? Out of nowhere, two shots were fired at her legs. I want to scream so much, just for her to wake up and save everyone, but she didn't bother to move. When he was done, he hauled me outside the building the building. Now everything I know will burn away and vanish.

Somewhere around, there was more shooting. The clowns panicked. In the corner of my eyes, I saw something dark in the fire, something moving fast. Things got a bit quieter. There was less shooting and less clowns. I couldn't see nor tell what was happening. The man dropped me off and starts to shoot his gun at a random direction. For a moment, I was stunned until something told me in my mind to run. Whenever I turned my head, the dark creature kept on moving fast, scaring every clown, and making them vanish, as if they were never there.

The door was free, no one was guarding. I took my chance to leave. For a moment, I coughed a little, but the fresh air came in and I could feel the breeze coming into me. There were many people running away in panic, afraid and confuse what was happening, with a few watching from the distant. Some of the police officers had already arrived. One of them saw me. For some reason, I just ran away. I ran as fast as I can until I feel no one was chasing me. I didn't know why I ran. Suddenly I heard a loud explosion behind me. My heart felt like bursting out and my body overwhelmed by the forcing sound of the explosion like something demonic yelled as loud as it can. I feel like shaking and just fall off to the ground trembling. For some weird reason, I ran on no matter how much I want to stop moving and stop thinking.

I didn't know long had I been running. When I look back, nobody was behind me. It was still dark. From the distant I could hear the sound of sirens and panic, yet in here, it's so quiet and dark. I look around, and I found myself alone. I want to scream as much as I can, maybe it will help me relieve myself. It didn't. I remembered when I got separated from everyone during a trip. I look around, and all I see were strangers. Miss Luna was the one who found me, Now there's no one. So all I did was keep on running until I get tired, never turning back, never looking back until my old home seemed to never exist.

The word "home" seems to be like a memory for me now. I've been out here for a while, doing as much as I can to survive. But it's so hard. All alone, barely anyone to really help me, no one to trust. I want to go back. But will the disaster be over. Every time I think about home, I see clowns and fire. There was so much screaming and the longer I tried to remember it, the more painful it gets when my heart starts beating.

No place for me to go. Nothing nice or good to see. In my first night alone, I hid in an alley, hoping no one would see me. I was awake the whole night because of strangers talking out loud. Sometimes I would hear fights and then suddenly a gun was fired, a sound that stunned me for hours as if it unleashed a demon that wants to imprison me in its arms, never letting me go. Worse of all: I'm surrounded by darkness, no light for me to see, no light to make me feel safe. I thought I would see monsters in the corner of my eye or something watching me. Miss Luna once told me of a ghost story where kids were haunted at night if they failed to go to sleep, we would be given nightmares. Me, Nick, and Olivia had played a game who will be the last one staying up and the bravest of us three. Now it's so difficult without them around. It was the longest night I ever experienced. I still stayed in my spot, not bothering to move when morning came out. I only came out when my stomach was starting to rumble; it annoyed me so much, like some internal earthquake or something punching really hard. My legs were feeling weak, I couldn't get up. I look up and see how bright the sun was, while down here is dark and lonely.

I look around and saw a burger and some fries placed perfectly on a plastic plate. Where did it came from? It wasn't there before or did I ignore? I didn't want to eat it. Might've came from the dump. Past lessons thought me how nasty things could be when grabbing something from the trash, and I know how things gets mixed in there, like mixing dry broccoli, cabbages, ice-cream, and fish. Something in me push me forward to reach for the burger. What if someone grabbed my hand if I tried to touch it? What if someone was setting up a trap? I didn't look around, it's only the food I'm looking. Nothing happened. I touch it and I'm fine. I began to eat.

Honestly, I didn't know how I was even alive. Maybe I'm just I look at the mirror, there was something different about me, like I'm getting a bit taller and there was so much changes in my face. I feel older. There were blood suddenly leaking out of me that happened in different weeks, and nothing hurt me, until the sudden bleeding came, how? It was so upsetting to bleed. Why didn't the police show up sooner back then? Their failure is the reason why I'm here. And I have to suffer because of it. The blood was so gross, I want to get rid all of it. I began to take clothes from abandoned stores and change often whenever blood began pouring out. At least I found a little home for a while. There had been a lot of places abandoned recently, in fact there was so much chaos. I spend time hiding from the riots spreading. Eventually I didn't need to find any clothes when some kind of a weird monster gave me clothes.

I just remembered something: I left my power rangers action figures in the fire, now they're a pile of ashes. I imagined them all getting burned, helpless, and I wasn't there to save them. Those were the only toys I had, and the only things closest to me since my betrayal. I cried a bit. When I'm bored or lonely, I'll had them fight each other or do crazy things and sleep with them to feel safe, because power rangers fight bad guys and I don't want to lose them. They make my dreams feel fun and I'm one of the heroes fighting bad guys. A hero didn't show up in real life, since I was defenses the whole. And things are getting really lonely, until I saw an abandoned toy store. I look around if there's someone hiding. It seems I'm the only one. Some of the stuff had already been stolen, except for some and it is what I wanted. In a box container is the red ranger, the leader of the power rangers. I found it fun being the leader. So I snatched the box and opened it up as fast as I can and in my hands again is the red ranger action figure. Although I got a new one, it makes me miss my old toys more, I had them for years and they were like extra friends. Well I was going to make my way out, then an old guy yelled at me out of nowhere.

'The perfect time for thieves to show up. I always thought that when the law is taken down, everyone can reveal their true selves. A monster would always rise without the fear of the law haunting them, like an eclipse where vampires can longer fear the sun. You just revealed to me that you're a criminal, a villain who deserves to be damned in prison.'

I couldn't think what to say, like my mouth got sewed.

'Why are you still standing around for? You already got what you want, I'm not trying to stop you or anything, so run along before the Grim Reaper finds you and judge your soul. I have no reason to end your misery, you deserve the punishment for living; the likes of you. Just imagine what you would be like when you're older, a demon baby reaching maturity.'

I ran as fast as I can until the old guy was out of my head. When I found a wall to rest by, the red ranger was still in my hands. The word "villain" pops in to my head whenever I look at the red ranger. He is a hero, the one who's suppose to make us feel safe and fight villains. I stole something, which makes me a villain. Do I even deserve this? I thought of letting go of the toy, but I couldn't. It makes me feel safe, a villain like me sleep better.

Sometimes when I look around, I see a dark creature moving so fast at night, jumping from one building to another. but it could be my imagination, yet I have a feeling I saw it before. There was a time when groups of gangs were shooting at another group, cursing at loud, sounding like they're the biggest guys ever existed. Each firing was like a big punch to my ears. But then things were suddenly quiet. All of them were tied by a dark cord, none of them saying a word, they just look asleep, yet they look like something beat them. For a small glimpse, I spotted the dark creature again, moving fast and seeing it made me feel afraid like it's a demon. I told myself the dark thing did it, it ended the fight. I don't know how, but it did something. Anyway it made everything peaceful and nice, my ears were relaxed now, and I don't feel afraid. Like there's some guardian watching over the streets.

For some reason, I get a glimpse of another monster at night. This one kinda reminded me of a monster who sneaks up at night and stare through the window while perching in a tree. Maybe it's just me but there's something about it that makes it so different, as if it watches me everyday and leading me to someplace safe. And it's very silent and sneaky, but nothing haunting like the other one. It makes me feel safe and whenever it appeared, fresh food pops out. The food is what kept me going. I stopped hunting for clothes when it gave me clothes everyday, and it's very warm. There was a time I get a close look when I was sick; it gave me medicine but I was too tired to see things clearly. It was very blurry, like everything seems to be shaken and mixed, but I noticed a shape in the monster, it looked like cat ears and for some reason my mind is telling me that it's not an it, it's a she. And I feel some strange connection with her; it's a really weird feeling as if I knew her. What makes her so different was that she appeared so often at day unlike the other, and yet no one took notice of her, unless a fight broke loose. I would be walking in an alley, thinking what I should do next and not think about home, then thugs suddenly grabbed me out of nowhere. They made my head numb with something, like some weird smell. Thinking at that time was tough, I was feeling dizzy. For a small bit, I saw the thugs fighting among themselves. When my head recovered, most of the thugs were beaten; the last ones were getting destroyed by the lady. After they were beaten, she left in an instant, climbing the wall like a cat with ease.

I thought having a real home again would never come true. I moved to places since more gangs kept on showing up and more police people trying to get me. A day came up to prove me wrong. The cat lady jumped off from a wall and landed in front of me. She told me to follow her. I only stood. My hand was suddenly grabbed and put me behind her back, then she quickly went up on the wall. I get a feeling she struggled because of my weight, fortunately she got through with the running and jumping from one roof to another; her skills to jump really surprised and if I'm not on her back, imagine how high she can jump. So after many minutes later, we stopped inside in an empty room that has dust covering every corners.

So she's been helping this whole time. She helped me when I was alone in the street. Yet all she did was watch me for so long. I had no one to talk to, no friends to make me happy. For a moment, I considered seeing her a friend, but somewhere in my head, I'm a bit creeped out. She didn't walk to me, just followed me like some stalker. All I know was she's been following me for months? Years? That's all I know about her. A part of me told me to leave. I made a mistake.

Then she look carefully into my eyes as if she's trying to see something. I didn't expect it but she suddenly hugged me. My head was blank, couldn't think how I should respond. This is starting to make me feel uncomfortable. She's a complete stranger to me. So I push her away and slowly walk back.

'Who are you?!'

She was quiet, there was a short pause. When finally say something, she sound like she's trying to hold something back, like she's about to unleash more raindrops from her eyes. 'Sorry. Sorry. I'm really sorry.'

'What do you want from me?'

'You to be happy.'

'Explain. . . Or stay away from me.'

'I can't. It's for your safety.'

What I should say to her? If I said something wrong, she might do something. I couldn't think what to say. I don't want to risk saying the wrong words.

'It's my fault this all happened to you. I didn't really expect how complicated things would get.' She stressed out and scratch her head and violently. 'Please forgive me.'

'I don't know you!'

'I have no choice then. . . I'm your mother. . .'

'. . .' What? What?! That can't be real. My mom abandoned me. She's lying. Miss Luna told me that strangers can tell you anything they want you to know, even lies. She might as well be crazy. Why would she go far to protect me and told me she's my mom so sudden.

There was a short pause. I leaned back on a wall and my mind going numb from this confusion and scary thing, while she kept on crying. She took hold of herself and said, 'It's not your fault why you're life is like this. I'm responsible of bringing you into a life you don't deserve. I should've thought this through.'

What is she saying? 'What are you talking about?'

'You're too young to understand and it's for the best. But I don't deserve to be your mother. A mother's job is to take care of her children.'

'Please. . . Stay away from me. . . If. . . I can trust you. . . You'll. . . Let me leave. . . Just leave me alone. . . Then maybe I can trust you. . . Or explain to me what's going on. Just explain what led to this. Who are you? Why are you doing this all to me? How can you be my mom?'

'How should I say this? You look so grown up now. What should I begin with?-'

'Tell me or leave me be!'

'It all began when I met a man. I was different back then. Everything was different compared to today. But there things that will never change.'

'What does a guy had to do with me?'

'Do you want to know where babies came from?'

'Not really. I asked that question a lot but everyone tells me either something different or things that makes no sense like a stork dropping me off from the sky or I was made from a clay.'

'Do you want me to explain where babies came from? I don't think you can handle it. It'll be better when you're older. The way you see things will never be the same. Trust me.'

'My home was burned down and my friends had betrayed me. I can handle it.'

'If you say so.'

'Why are sounding like it's a weird topic to explain? But if it explains a lot about you. Then do it. I don't care.'

So this is why people say ignorance is bliss. Maybe sticking with the old idea would be a good idea. What she told me made everything sense, but it changes how I see everything. The things on T.V and people's explaining, it was a big lie. I could never watch T.V or look at anyone without thinking about the process. If only she explain something less gross. Why are we born with something disgusting?

'Now that I have it cleared up. This is how you were born. As for him, we never seen each other ever again. Can't believe he tricked me. I always knew he should never be trusted, just doing what he wants. An important advice if you met someone who seems charming and turning out to be trash.'

'Can we please move on.'

'I guess it's enough for education today. Things aren't so easy when you're belly so swollen, like you're running with a bag in front of you or a boulder. I have someone I trusted to look out for me until time is up.'

'Shouldn't you go to the hospital?'

'I would have. I didn't have to go through this harsh labor. Take the easy way. But where I am standing, my option was only the hard way. Lots of people want to hunt me down, and they know I'm in labor. The police, they're not on my side. What kind of a people would help someone who stole something? With the fact I did more wrong things.'

'You're a criminal?' I knew there was something wrong. This just makes things hard for me to get out. What criminal would willingly let their prisoners out? I have no choice but to stay or she would kill me. She's really making me really uncomfortable.

'I'm not a type of criminal who likes to hurt everyone. I became a criminal because life thinks it's funny to give me bad luck, while some rich kids has homes with a nice family and a soft bed. When you live in the street and finding ways to be happy, everyone is your enemy. Happiness is not easy to get and sharing happiness means giving up some of it. What kind of person would want to be miserable? You saw it didn't you? The riots and you know how depressing it is to live alone and feeling afraid all the time. Feeling safe counts as not being depressed. Every night I see you cuddling with the red ranger every night. I see kids enjoying the shows, where heroes fight monsters and keep the city safe. But the monsters we see here are people. And heroes can die anytime.'

I just thought what would it be like if the Power Rangers were to die, all of them in the same spot. What would the world be like if they failed? But seeing this city, this is what the world would look like if there are no heroes. Does she ever kill a hero, is she the reason why there are no heroes to protect me? Yet strangely, a criminal claimed to be my mom and the one keeping me alive. Her out of all people. If she is really my mom, would that make me a villain because I was born out of here? I had been stealing things recently. I was a big mess. And thinking back in my old home, I was really rude. I look at the red ranger carefully, and think to myself.

'We can stop anytime. You don't have to listen anymore of this. I understand that it's overwhelming.'

'I have to know.' It's a bit too much. What she's saying, it makes my head shut up a little. I didn't know why I said it, it just slipped through my mouth.

'No. I think it's best i give this to you. I almost forgot to show it to you.' From her pocket, she took out an old picture of her younger self and a baby in her arms. There was no one else around. In the background, was a wooden wall that looked like it's going to fall apart. Then something came to my mind, who took the picture? But I didn't bother ask at all.

'This pictures helps me remember you, reminding myself I have a daughter I have to protect. And I hope this will convince you. If you don't, I'll give you time. Remember this, I did it to protect you. If they knew I had a daughter, they will hunt you down and I can't bare myself to see you hurt. Just stay for a while.'

'Okay. I will stay.'

'Good. There is something I have to show you. You're going to need it. There are people who would want to hurt you. But before they do that, you fight back. You know where this is going.'

'What?'

'I'll teach you how to fight. There's no reason to be helpless if you know how to fight. Just like the red ranger who fights monsters, and the best way to keep the things you love safe. It's what I do and what you'll do in the future.'

I guess I have no choice but to accept it. Maybe it will keep me safe, and hopefully happy. And there is something deep inside me, telling me that she really is my mom, it's just the weird feeling like some connection, as if I found something I lost, but I still feel lost and I don't know why.


End file.
